The St. Cloud City Council has approved to construct a new skate park at Ted Broda Park near the south end of Michigan Avenue for a cost of about $1 million.
The vote, taken Thursday, means the existing park at Wheel Park in Peghorn Park will be replaced. City staff said the original plan was to upgrade that park, but soil samples showed the cost to upgrade the existing park would be prohibitive.
A 2022 workshop was held to present locations for a new park, and Ted Broda Park, where a 13,000 square foot park with an empty swimming pool-like bowl will be built, to allow for online skating, biking and skateboarding, by Team Pain Enterprises. A second phase would include shade spots for parents to sit.
"I'm super excited, maybe I'll learn how to skateboard," said Council member Linette Matheny, who noted a local materials company had mentioned donating a portion of the concrete when the project first came up in 2019.
The city said construction will start in July, and without major weather delays it is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Th City Council also voted to postpone an approval for a Preliminary Subdivision Plan, a project that would bring 625 single-family detached lots, 291 attached townhomes, 308 apartments on approximately 276 acres north of Nolte Road between Eastern Avenue and Old Hickory Tree Road, and create a mixed-use district that would include commercial and office uses.
Members of the Fertic family, longtime residents of the area, including former St. Cloud Council member Jarom Fertic, raised concern about changes to traffic and water mitigation, and a lack of recent notice to area residents. The project was approved in 2017, when the 17-parcel tract was annexed into the city, but Council agreed to postpone vote on the action until its next meeting on July 27.
The Council also gave the final approval to increase pay based on the city's future population growth for upcoming (not current, unless they win re-election) Council members. The vote was 4-1 with Kolby Urban voting against; he has already filed to run for re-election to his seat in 2024.
