Town opens Sylva Pipes

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Town opens Sylva Pipes

Skaters in Sylva finally have a place to ride in their own backyard after the opening of Sylva Pipes — a set of temporary skateboarding amenities constructed downtown.

“The vision was to bring a couple of features into town to have someplace skaters could come, and to get a new little green space,” said Town Commissioner Greg McPherson.

Sylva Pipes opened with a dedication on June 15. Located in the vacant lot behind Motion Makers, the features are technically temporary fixtures, rather than a permanent park, shipped in from California and constructed by the Public Works Department.

The town began looking into the purchase of a half pipe for the skate community last year while the longer and more expensive prospect of a permanent skatepark plays out. A grassroots organization of Jackson County residents, the “Sylva Skatepark Project,” began advocating for the construction of a skate park over a year ago. Both the town of Sylva and the county commission have been receptive to the group’s endeavors.

In the meantime, Sylva Commissioners McPherson and Mary Gelbaugh have been at the forefront of the effort to secure the pipe.

“I believe Sylva needs more amenities, more things for people to do when they come downtown, that being kids, teens or adults,” said McPherson while advocating for the purchase during a meeting in September. “This is an opportunity to provide a quick remedy for teens to hang out and have something fun and constructive to do.”

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The equipment, a half-pipe with a five-foot extension, quarter-pipe, two rail slides and a box, cost the town $9,700 and was purchased from OC Ramps, a California-based company selling ramp kits that users can assemble with basic hand tools.

In August, the town finalized a lease agreement with Kent Cranford, previous owner of Motion Makers and current owner of the building that houses the business on Allen Street in Sylva. The lot behind the business has been vacant for years, and Cranford agreed to let the town use the space for the half pipe free of charge.

“I’d like to thank Kent for leasing us this property,” said Town Manager Paige Dowling. “The American Rescue Plan Funds, $10,000 of that went into this equipment and then Sylva Art and Design Committee also raised several hundred dollars, so we appreciate their efforts on it. I think this will be a great thing for the skaters of Sylva,” he said.

“Since we moved into that building eight years ago, I’ve always wanted to do something in the back that would be recreational-minded,” said Cranford after the lease was finalized. “When the town leaders inquired about temporarily locating the skate ramp, it seemed like a good test for that space along with solving a problem for the town and the skateboarders.”

Even though the temporary structures are now open and ready for skaters, the hope for a permanent skatepark has not diminished.

“We’re hoping that this will be a catalyst for a larger park, either over at Mark Watson, or, a colleague and I have drawn up plans for what this could possibly look like in the future,” said McPherson. “A nice partnership with the town and with Kent Cranford, who I’d like to give a million thanks to.”

In Macon County, a new skatepark in Franklin is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. The county commission recently voted to chip in more than $10,000 over the amount requested to help finish the project. The county allocated $60,576 toward the project in March, rounding out funding for the $262,000 project. The original cost of the park was estimated at $294,750, but because town staff decided to take care of all the grading at the site, that knocked more than $30,000 off the price. Through fundraising, a previous donation from the county and a SCIF grant
from the Southwestern Commission, the town had pulled together just over $150,000 for the skatepark, prior to the final allocations from the Town of Franklin and the Macon County Commission.

Haywood County completed its nearly half-million dollar skatepark in the fall of 2013 after a long push from the skating community. The Town of Waynesville funded about $300,000 for the park, and the remaining nearly $100,000 came from fundraising efforts and grants from the North Carolina Park and Recreation Trust Fund, the Waynesville Kiwanis Club, Pepsi and the Tony Hawk Foundation, among others.

Sylva Pipes will be free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to sunset. Cameras have been installed to ensure responsible use of the facilities.

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