East Gwillimbury teen helps bring a BMX park to town after 5 year wait

Sharon resident Decaln Bondy had been advocating for BMX park in sharon for more than five years

Yorkregion.com
July 5, 2019
Simon Martin

Sometimes persistence pays off.  Declan Bondy was in Grade 7 back in 2013 when he and his friends did what any industrious teen BMX biker would do when faced with no BMX feature in Sharon: build one themselves.

They built a bunch of jumps in Sharon Hills Park with shovels and dirt in a rarely used area of the park.  They spent many hours each day working on their BMX park and it kept improving.

Then one day, it was gone. The town removed the feature as it was too close to a storm water management pond.   

Instead of sulking, Bondy called up his local councillor Tara Roy-DiClemente to see what could be done.  The town hosted 15-20 youths from the community at meeting which covered various features the park could have.

Bondy and his friend Dalton Comeau and Greg Fowler presented to council there ideas in 2014. They were even able to get a sponsor in place to help fund it. But as the community got wind of what was going to happen at Sharon Hill Park opposition grew and one resident put together a petition, Bondy said. The dream of a park in Sharon Hills Park was squashed.

As Bondy entered high school at Sacret Heart Catholic High Schcool in Newmarket his love of riding dimmed a little. “After grade 8 there weren’t many guys biking,” he said. 

That didn’t stop Bondy from staying in touch with his councillor. “Every six months or so I would text and ask ‘hey when am I getting a park?’,” he said.  

Roy-Diclemente said Bondy was persistent and polite in keeping up to date on the progress of BMX park.  It wasn’t until last year that Bondy finally received word from Roy-DiClemente that the park would be built in the new Sharon subdivision.

So it was only fitting that Bondy was on hand for the Manor Hampton Park opening June 26. The town had a special honour prepared to commemorate Bondy’s work in getting a BMX park in Sharon. Roy-DiClemente had asked East Gwillimbury’s Parks, Recreation and Culture General Manager Aaron Karmazyn if there was way of recognizing Bondy’s five-year effort to get a local park. A jump complete with a sign was erected in Bondy’s honour named Declan’s Double. Declan did a demo of the feature for the park opening. “It’s one of those stories that gives you chills,” Roy-DiClemente said. “Even though he’s not my kid, I’m super proud of him. His work will have lasting impact on my kids and kids in the area.”

For his part Bondy said it was gratifying to see his work for a park payoff. “That was awesome. It felt cool to be recognized for something I pushed for and dreamed for the town,” he said.

The whole experience was also an education for him about how to get things down at the local. “Like any politics its slow. You have to push if you want something to happen.”

Having just graduated high school and off to study commerce at Dalhousie University in the fall, Bondy likely won’t be the one to enjoy the fruits of his labour. But that doesn’t bother him too much. “It’s kind of awesome to see kids out there after school or at lunch. They just love it,” he said.

Bondy said he sees a little of himself in those kids. Talking to them at the park opening, Bondy said they were telling him where they had built bike jumps in the area. “Everybody was going to do it until the town did something,” he said.