During the latest Airdrie City Council Meeting, a number of topics focused on outdoor extra-curricular activities were brought up, including further discussion into a new skate park on the East side of the QE2 highway as well as disc golf. 

Airdrie City Council was presented with information on the sport of disc golf and is being asked to consider the creation of a disc golf course in one of its city parks. 

The presentation was made by Adam Martin, an Airdrie homeowner and father-to-be who presented the council with a number of reasons as to why the city and its residents would benefit from a disc golf course. 

As the nearest disc golf course is nearly half an hour away in the Forest Lawn community of Calgary, Martin says Airdronians who enjoy the sport would use and appreciate a course within their own city limits. 

Martin brought many positives to the table regarding a new disc golf course in Airdrie such as being free and accessible, relatively cheap course maintenance, tourism possibilities with tournaments and travelling clubs, and getting residents outside and active. 

After hearing Martin’s presentation, City Council brought questions to the table such as how many Airdronains are part of the Airdrie disc club to which Martin replied there are approximately 112 members within the city. Councilor Ron Chapman also brought up the question of if there are often conflicts with other park users with discs flying through the air that might veer off course into other activities; Martin says there are very rarely conflicts because of how courses are typically designed. 

Mayor Peter Brown said he's open to the idea of creating a Disc Golf Course and the topic will be brought up in more detail in future Council Meetings. 

When it came time to discuss a second city skate park on the east side of Airdrie, the main focus for Council was where the park would be located. Comments were made during the council meeting that Airdrie has fallen behind in skate parks with only 1 available to a population of just over 70,000.  

Council mainly focused on 3 different options for the skate park location: East Lake Regional Park, Highland Park, and a not-yet-built future regional park. 

Of the 3 options, the only one to meet all the ideal criteria (space, parking, transit, washrooms, and a nearby concession) was East Lake Regional Park. 

In the council presentation, it was noted that a brand-new skate park would take 2-3 years to complete. After crunching some numbers, the council said that today, it is estimated a skate park of 30,000 square feet could cost $65/square foot or almost 2 million dollars excluding land costs and associated amenities. The proposed East Lake Regional Park would be a little more than twice that size at approximately 1.6 acres of land on the northeast quadrant of Airdrie. 

In the end, Council decided to continue with discussions on a new skate park in Airdrie, and using the new information provided, they will bring it up in more detail in a future Council meeting.