By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE City of Casey is turning to the youth of Endeavour Hills as council prepares to upgrade the local skate park.
The suburb’s skate park will be upgraded as part of the development of the new Endeavour Hills Civic Centre.
The draft plan for the new precinct was put on public exhibition a year ago and outlines council’s blueprint for the development of the site at 63-65 Heatherton Road, which is slated to include high density housing and more commercial and retail floor space.
At a barbecue on Monday 21 March, Four Oaks Councillors Rafal Kaplon and Rosalie Crestani met with the “local youth” to get their views on “what the youth precinct and skate park should look like”.
“The landscape in the approximate location of the existing skate park will incorporate multi-use skate elements as part of a youth-focused precinct,” Cr Kaplon said.
“The design of the landscaping will allow for a variety of uses including people-watching, addressing and dealing with the site’s topography and level changes, skating, and amphitheatre uses in an integrated and adaptable urban landscape.
“A digitally interactive and Wi-Fi enabled space will also be investigated.”
In addition to the youth and skate precinct, Cr Kaplon said the civic centre development would include terracing from the public square to Raymond McMahon Boulevard, as well as an interim level surface at the bottom of the hill to enable easy access across the site to the Endeavour Hills Neighbourhood House and Leisure Centre.
“It is great to see this project finally up and running, the site has been of great interest since 1975, but after multiple attempts no way forward was found to develop the site,” Cr Kaplon said.
“It has taken me the majority of three years to work closely with council officers to develop a master plan and then find appropriate funding to get the project started.
“It was my key promise to the residents of Endeavour Hills and will provide a community heart for residents of all backgrounds and age groups to enjoy together.”
