ELKINS — The Refinery Church is “waiting on the excavation equipment” to begin work on a new skatepark in the Highland Park area, officials said.

Pastor Roy Schneider confirmed to The Inter-Mountain that, while officials do not have a set timeline for when the skatepark will be finished, they have everything they need for the project.

“That’s the hard part about construction projects,” Schneider said. “You set times and you never hit them, but we’ve got all the money we need for what we want to do with the skatepark. We’re just really waiting on the excavation equipment.”

Schneider said officials have been able to save on costs thanks to people offering to excavate and pour concrete for free. He explained that the person who will be excavating the space has had issues with one piece of equipment, with it having been in and out of repair.

Once the equipment is up and running, Schneider said “there’s not a lot that needs done” for the skatepark, but for now, they’re in a “holding pattern.”

“So we’ve just been in a standing, holding pattern until we can get his piece of equipment up and running,” Schneider said. “…We’ve got to take the top four inches off so that we can lay the stone and then pour the (skate) pad.”

In a social media post announcing both The Refinery Church’s plans to purchase Steer Steakhouse restaurant and Gandy Dancer Theater, and the church’s continued plans for the skatepark, Schneider attributed “the early summer rains” to the delay in skatepark progress.

Schneider told The Inter-Mountain that he plans to keep people posted on the skatepark’s progress despite not having a definitive timeframe for the construction.

Last year, Schneider told The Inter-Mountain in a previous statement that the Refinery Church would have the space for a skatepark on the 26 acres of property it had purchased near North Elementary School on Kennedy Street. 

Schneider said the church offered to make a place for a skatepark on their property after learning the Elkins Parks and Recreation Commission (EPRC) was considering removing the Elkins Skatepark from Glendale Park. He explained that the church wanted to make sure “kids can continue to skate.”

On Jan. 8, the EPRC unanimously voted to remove the Elkins Skatepark, which was built in 2009, from Glendale Park. Pieces and equipment from the Elkins Skatepark were given to the Refinery Church to be relocated.

Joining The Refinery Church in the fundraising efforts for the new skatepark was 3rd Street Tattoo, which held a flash tattoo fundraiser on May 23 and May 24 to help fund the repair of one of the old ramps given to The Refinery Church from the Elkins Skatepark.

Dustin Standridge, the owner of 3rd Street Tattoo, is the former president of Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES), who helped establish the Elkins Skatepark in Glendale Park.

“Because I knew that (EPRC) was ending (the Elkins Skatepark), I wanted to get on board with Roy, and Roy is a good friend of mine… so I knew his heart is in the right place,” Standridge told The Inter-Mountain previously. “(Schneider) actually wants to do things for the youth and wants a better future. (Schneider) wants to contribute to Elkins as a whole. He wants Elkins to be a good place.”

“Dustin was a part of the original crew (YES), so when everything went down, they just decided, ‘Hey, let’s work together, let’s make it better and keep it maintained so that folks can skate in our community again, and hopefully have a little bit better area to do so,'” Schneider told The Inter-Mountain.