SCARBOROUGH – The first-ever indoor climbing gym in Scarborough received unanimous approval from the Planning Board last week. The 10,000-square-foot facility is planned for 1.5 acres off the Haigis Parkway.

The climbing center, which is called the Salt Pump Climbing Gym, is the brainchild of business partners Mark Richey and Fred Wilkinson. Town Planner Dan Bacon said this week he’s not sure when the gym would be open to the public, particularly since it took the Planning Board awhile to approve the project.

In fact, the gym went through four reviews before the board was satisfied that the facility would fit in with its surroundings and not be an eye sore. The exterior will now include faux rock faces and trellises to encourage the growth of vegetation.

While Bacon said the project does not reflect the office or high-tech light industrial uses the Haigis Parkway is specially zoned for, it will still add to the town’s attempts to make the parkway a destination.

“This is a unique and exciting project, which could be a regional destination as well as a facility that employees and visitors of future development along the parkway and off Exit 42 can use,” Bacon said. “It is a bit different than the office, high-tech, light industrial type development the zoning is geared for, but seems like a nice complement. And the property, with a pond and wooded area, is a nice setting for a climbing gym.”

– Kate Irish Collins

The new Salt Pump Climbing Gym received unanimous approval from the Scarborough Planning Board last week. 

Copy the Story Link