The Claude Parish Memorial Arena and the pool within the Houston Leisure Facility are set to open by the end of September this year.
The fitness centre and all the parks and playgrounds in the district opened earlier this year in June. The district had issued a press release informing the public of the fitness centre opening up from June 15. At that time, the district had also mentioned that the pool would remain closed until proper safety protocols were put in place.
All the facilities will look different this year due to Covid. The leisure services department is not running any drop in or instructor-led programs at the moment and those are expected to resume in the fall.
“The facilities will have a much different look when they reopen. A certain number of patrons will only be allowed in the facility at once, and flow of traffic will be altered through them. No longer can patrons pop by a facility to check out what is going on. All times are scheduled. For the arena, patrons will only be allowed in for their scheduled ice time. And the pool will be much the same, as you will have a booked swim time,” said Tasha Kelly, the director of leisure services for the district adding that whether or not there would be any matches or competitive activities at the arena would be entirely dependent on the user groups like the Minor Hockey Association, the Bulkley Valley Soccer, who rented the facilities.
Kelly also informed that the closure of the pool had helped in getting some maintenance work done on the pool.
“The pool caught up on minor maintenance projects and a full replacement of all overhead lights above the pools,” she said.
While Kelly didn’t mention a date for the opening of the pool, the arena would be open for usage starting Sept. 28 as the plant will be starting up the week of Sept. 8.