Yenda Progress Association have doubled down on their criticisms of a plan to build a skate park in Memorial Park, releasing their own alternative plan for a "Yenda Youth Sport Precinct".
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The plan involves moving the skate park to an empty plot of land on Park Street, persuading Griffith City Council to spend $400,000 for amenities and sporting facilities, and getting a further $200,000 federal government grant to extend the skate park.
According to Progress Association secretary Paul Rossetto, the plan would fulfill the wishes of the "silent majority" of Yenda who want Memorial Park to stay the way it is.
"We'd like to get our Yenda community to support our proposal," Mr Rossetto said.
"At the moment we're having discussions, building momentum, and having people talk about the various issues," Mr Rossetto said.
However skate park project organiser Ann Furner stood by the original site, saying the association's plan was good in theory but a "pipe dream" in practice.
"The community worked so hard to get the My Community Project funding, and if Paul thinks he's going to get $600,000 like that, then good luck to him," Ms Furner said.
"I think it's awful that the Yenda Progress Association are trying to hijack this community project."
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Mrs Furner said her worst fear was a delay to the project, which could cause them to miss their 12-month completion deadline and lose out on the rest of the My Community Project funding.
Mayor John Dal Broi stood by the Memorial Park site, adding that he'd received several phone calls from residents who "vehemently" opposed the Park Street site.
"The application made it quite clear the skate park was going to be in Memorial Park, and that's the project people voted for," Councillor Dal Broi said.
Cr Dal Broi said council intends to hold a community consultation meeting in Yenda, however Mr Rossetto said it was a "box-ticking" meeting held by a council that appeared to have already made their minds up.
On a poll published on The Area News website, 83 per cent of respondents said they preferred a Memorial Park site while 17 per cent of respondents preferred either Park Street, Rotary Park, or Cyril Morris Park.
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Kenji Sato
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
