Cooling off in Turner Valley’s swimming pool and spray park will be a much different experience when the facilities open next month.
Turner Valley chief administrative officer Todd Sharpe told town council at its June 15 meeting that administration is preparing to open the Dr. Lander Memorial Swimming Pool and Foothills Lions Club Spray Park in the safest manner possible July 6 after swimming pools received the green light to open in conjunction with Stage 2 of Alberta’s economic relaunch strategy effective June 12. Pools were initially slated to open during Stage 3.
“We will be working on what would be a reasonable sanitation process throughout the day," said Sharpe. "We have to consider regular sanitization of the washrooms and ensure that lifejackets, for example, are sanitized regularly."
Both facilities were provincially mandated to remain closed until further notice when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Alberta in March. They typically open for the season on the Victoria Day weekend in May.
Sharpe told council that someone will likely be hired to monitor activities at the spray park to ensure patrons are maintaining Alberta Health Services’ physical distancing regulations and mass gathering restrictions.
As for the pool, its operations will look very different from past years, he said.
“It’s going to be scaled back and we’re not going to have the crowds or drop-in swimming we’ve had,” he said. “We need to be able to control the environment to maintain distancing for the safety of the staff and patrons who use the pool.”
Sharpe said it will take several weeks to conduct the reopening plan as administration familiarizes itself with the provincial guidelines surrounding swimming pools.
“It would typically take three weeks to open to begin with, but now we have additional responsibilities and guidelines of COVID to mix into that,” he said. “Our intention would be to reopen the pool on July 6. That gives us three full weeks.”
Sharpe expects changes will include a heavier focus on registered swimming and the removal of shared items like pool toys and picnic tables.
“We need to be able to control the numbers and distancing,” he said. “One example that was thrown around was creating three double-wide lanes and book them for groups of up to certain amounts and ensure there’s six foot distancing. We likely won’t have swimming lessons just because of the magnitude of the work that needs to go into that.”
Coun. Cindy Holladay said she’s worried the restrictions will make it difficult for many residents who’ve enjoyed the pool in past years to access it this season.
“My concern is if we can only allow small amounts of people, not all residents will get the benefit of the pool and everyone is paying for it in their taxes,” she said.
Sharpe replied that it will be difficult this season to monitor fairness and provide equal opportunities for users, given the circumstances.
“We will drastically be reducing the opportunities there,” he said. “It’s important for council and residents to realize it’s not going to be perfect. It’s going to be open in a different manner than people are used to.”
Deputy Mayor Lana Hamilton, who has young children, said she’s relieved to see the outdoor pool open this season.
“It’s not going to be what we’re used to, but it’s going to be great for the kids to get back to some form of normalcy,” she said.
Mayor Barry Crane, who also has young children, said he's has been anticipating the opening for weeks and understands it's going to be a different experience for the public.
“We are very happy that the Phase 2 relaunch bumped pools forward,” he said. “That begin said, it’s going to be a little different for the kids in the pool this year with the six-foot social distancing rule. It’s obviously going to be somewhat awkward to have regular play in the pool that kids would usually enjoy.”
While a drop in revenue is expected with limited patrons, Crane said the Town is committed to staying on budget.
“The delayed opening basically became a cushion to absorb some of the COVID-related expenses because we didn’t have to pay staff operations for six weeks,” he said. “That being said, we’ll see a decreased revenue this year because of the restrictions. It’s definitely a play-it-by-ear situation to see how it pans out at the end of the season.”
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