Walker Park skate park / Staff photo
A lighting system is in the works for the Walker Park skate park in south Fayetteville.
The City Council recently approved an engineering contract with Engineering Elements of Fayetteville for design services, bid documents and construction administration related to the project.
The $98,000 project calls for LED lighting, and engineering documents suggested the design would explore pushbutton “ON” controls as well as time clock and potential wireless app controls.
Installing lights at the park has been a longtime request from residents who use the facility, and was one of several suggestions mentioned at a community meeting in 2017 ahead of the the Walker Park Master Plan.
Residents view a drawing of Walker Park during a public meeting held in 2017 at the city’s Senior Activity and Wellness Center in south Fayetteville.
Photo: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
At the time, local BMX rider Connor Williamson said he’d gathered over 500 signatures of area residents who’d like to be able to use the park after dark.
Williamson said the park gets overcrowded at certain times of the day, which limits use for some riders. He said winter hours are cut short in the afternoons due to limited daylight, and the summer heat tends to leave the park empty during the hottest times of the day.
Ted Jack, the city’s park planning superintendent, said the lights should be a nice improvement to the park.
“This is really a neat facility,” said Jack. “It’s hard to go by there and not see someone at the skate park. There are usually a lot of teens who are out there, so this really fills a niche in the city and the lights will stretch the usability of it.”
A pre-bid construction meeting is planned for today (Dec. 28). The project is scheduled for completion sometime in 2021.
