You've seen bike parks everywhere except your community and now you want one too. Here's some tips on the process.
Form a committee
Get some friends together, grab some drinks, and brainstorm about where your perfect track could go.
If you can find a way to make this committee an official part of a community association or town council, this will speed up the process.
Figure out who is good at what and divide up some tasks. Finances, grant writing, promotion, lead construction role.
Community Engagement
Build a website or at least a Facebook page to allow others to share in your idea. The quicker you get lots of people on-board, the faster you can build it.
Talk to municipal leaders, parks/rec departments, bike associations.
Location
No doubt you have an eye on something already, but find an under-utilized piece of land and consider what others might think about it (because they are sometimes the biggest hurdle).
It needs to be roughly flat, needs to have good drainage and shouldn't be in a utility corridor unless you want it ripped up the next time they upgrade the sewer.
Research
Find similar projects in similar areas to look at, and get information about. If there is already a pump track in your city, find out who had it built, what company built it, and ask them about the process. Most of the time the community bike park champion is going to be super stoked to share their experience with you.
Vision
Who is this aimed at? Balance bikes, kids, youth, elite.
Decide what you want? Dirt, asphalt, pump track, jumps, square footage, budget considerations.
Cost
As of 2020 some quotes in Alberta ranged from $70/sq ft to $200+/sq ft for asphalt pump tracks. There are 100% volunteer built bike parks and there are a couple that cost over a million.
Funding
Grassroots - bike events, dinner with silent auction, t-shirt sales, cash fundraising drive.
Local business donations - No strings attached (if you can partner with a charity, then you can write tax receipts).
Local business sponsorship - Money given with specific parameters expected in return.
Local business donations in-kind - construction, company, landscape architect, equipment rental, surveying. These service type donations can bring your costs down.
Government Grants - Each province has different grants, but there are generally lots if you search. Once you have a good grant package, much of the info is transferable/adaptable to other organizations. (eg. Alberta: CFEP, CIP)
Business Grants - Bike companies, banks, and other big companies often have community grants (eg. Santa Cruz, QBP, MEC, Telus)
Foundations - Most big cities have a few different foundations that support community projects (eg. Calgary Foundation, Parks Foundation Calgary, Edmonton Community Foundation)
Builders
These professionals are great and will have tons of ideas and information on how they specifically operate.
Bike-Track (across Canada)
Velosolutions Canada (across Canada working with local partners)
Sentiers Boreals (Quebec)
Hoots (Western Canada)
Transitions Bike Parks Inc. (Ontario)
Ontario Bike Park Construction Inc. (Ontario)
Alpine Bike Parks (Western Canada)
BMXpert (Quebec)
Golden Dirt Trails (Western Canada)
Dirt by Design (Ontario)
Shoreline Dirt Works (Nova Scotia)
Feel free to reach out to us if you have specific questions as we have just gone through this process in Calgary - info@kidsbikescanada.ca