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Updated: Upgrades coming to popular Penzer Park in Langley City (with video)

Council approves a staff proposal that would move up construction of planned washroom, benches, picnic tables and shelter
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Geoff Mallory, manager of parks operations at Langley City on the biggest outdoor Parkour facility in Canada in Penzer Park. The city is looking at speeding up contruction of a planned washroom and picnic tables to accomodate a bigger-than-expected demand for the facillity. File photo

Penzer Action Park in Langley City will get a new washroom and picnic tables sooner than planned to help Canada’s largest outdoor Parkour facility cope with its greater-than-expected success.

On Monday, City Council approved two staff proposals to build a new washroom and storage facility and additional benches, picnic tables and a shelter at Penzer as soon as possible.

The project will be put out to tender immediately, and work could begin by the end of November, staff said.

The washroom will cost an estimated additional $365,000 which includes constructing the water and sewer connections and fully grounding the facility under the BC Hydro electrical towers that run through the park.

Funding will come from the Community Amenity Fund and the Capital Works Reserve.

Building the additional park benches, picnic tables and a shelter at Penzer Park will require $67,000 from the Community Amenity Fund.

The decision to accelerate the projects came after staff reported the redesigned Langley City park near 200 Street and 48 Avenue has been drawing bigger-than-expected crowds and some grumbling on social media about the porta-potties on site as well as a lack of shade and places to sit.

READ MORE: Canada’s biggest outdoor Parkour park may need more parking

“The park has been a tremendous success and we couldn’t be more thrilled about it, but along with that success has come some challenges,” Rick Bomhof, the City Director of Engineering, Parks and Environment advised council shortly after the park opened.

“It’s far more than what we could have imagined.”

Penzer Action Park at 198C Street and 47A Avenue underwent a $1.3 million re-do this year, with $500,000 coming from the federal government and $800,000 from the City.

About 80 per cent of the park was redone.

The only part that remained untouched was the bike skills park, which was overhauled in 2015.

The former baseball diamond and soccer pitch now features a Parkour facility believed to be the biggest of its kind in Canada, a 10,000-square foot collection of wooden forms to accommodate a sport where competitors navigate obstacles by running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, and other movements.

The Parkour park, designed by Parkour Vision and installed by Marathon Athletics, is connected to a pair of new playgrounds designed for children aged two to five, and five to 12.

All of it rests on three inches of shock-absorbing rubber made from recycled tire, with a red and black pattern that offers kids the challenge of avoiding the red “lava” as they navigate the course.

The park also features a European-design multi-purpose sports plaza that can accommodate various sports including basketball, soccer, ball hockey and volleyball and a one-of-a kind “pump track” designed by and built for skateboarders that can accommodate scooters and cyclists.

The crowds have been coming ever since Penzer re-opened on Thursday, June 29.

READ MORE: Canada’s largest outdoor parkour park officially opens

While Penzer already has washroom facilities, they are located at the opposite end of the park, near the cycling facility that predates the new equipment.

If council approves the new washroom and other additions, it would likely be several more months before construction could begin.



dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com

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Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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