All it needs now is the snow

A7

BY ALAN COCHRANE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

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Riverview's home-made toboggan hill is pretty much ready for use but town officials are waiting for Mother Nature to provide the crucial element -- snow.

Bob Clive, the town's director of parks and recreation, said yesterday the hill has been shaped and packed down but crews can't do much more until it is frozen solid and covered with a five or six inches of snow.

He's hoping it will be ready for the town's winter carnival in February. But it will remain locked up until it can be put into use, mainly to prevent people with all-terrain vehicles from damaging it.

The hill is located in a wooded area just off Gunningsville Boulevard and Findlay Boulevard. It is basically a huge mound of dirt that was created during the construction of Gunningsville Boulevard, which continues up the hill off the new Gunningsville Bridge. During the construction many truckloads of dirt were excavated to turn the steep hill into a gentle slope. Town council decided to do something constructive with the piles of dirt, so they had the trucks deposit their loads in a vacant lot. Bulldozers and other equipment were used to sculpt it into a hill roughly 25 feet tall with a long slope suitable for sliding on toboggans or snowboards. It wasn't put into service last winter because there were still many rocks and frozen clumps of dirt which could have been a safety hazard. The hill was smoothed out during the summer to the point where it is now usable. But the recent warm weather and heavy rains have left it soggy and just about impossible to walk on.

Next year, it is hoped to have grass growing on the hill, which would help prevent it from turning into a mucky mess. With grass it could be used for various summer events like soap slides or perhaps mountain bike races.

"Or maybe we could have our own concert hill in Riverview," Clive joked.