Students and community members get the ball rolling on a new skatepark

HOUGHTON — Community members in Houghton are getting excited about a possible skatepark in the city.

The Houghton community has been asking for a local skate park for years. Finally it’s gained enough interest to hold an informal meeting and start making a plan. Local skaters, families, business owners, and city officials gathered to discuss ideas. One Upper Peninsula planning commission member said this community is already one step ahead because the city is involved in the initial planning.

“The city, in 2013, completed a five year master plan, which it does every five years. At that point a skatepark was certainly something that folks wanted and were very vocal about, so the city included it in it’s master plan.” said Houghton City Manager Eric Waara.

Possibly the most important topic at the meeting was location. A few possibilities were discussed including city owned land near Houghton High School. One Michigan Tech student spoke up about getting the university and student clubs involved in the planning. The great turn out at the meeting was largely due to the Houghton MI Skatepark Facebook page, which already has 600 followers.

“One of the big steps is generating the interest in doing it, and here we have a room full of people who are interested in doing it. So basically having the momentum ahead of time is a big step forward,” said Houghton Skatepark Committee Member Alex Aho.

The Houghton community is hoping these strong first steps are enough to put the skatepark plans into action.