St. Albert residents might be able to work out in Servus Place later this month, but don’t expect the doors to reopen on Monday, say city administrators.
At a special council meeting Feb. 4, St. Albert councillors authorized chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble to reopen or close city facilities in compliance with provincial health orders based on demand and financial viability. Council also voted to scrape the ice off two indoor ice sheets and drain the Landrex Water Play Centre to save money.
Council did not commit to reopening any of the city’s recreational facilities by Feb. 8, which is when Step 1 of the province’s plan to loosen COVID-19 health restrictions is projected to take effect. Under the plan, as of Feb. 8, provided the total number of people in Alberta hospitals due to COVID-19 was under 600, schools would be allowed to conduct sports and performances at off-site facilities, gyms could host one-on-one training sessions with certified professional trainers, and restaurants could offer restricted in-person dining.
Cost considerations
The city closed Fountain Park Recreation Centre and Servus Credit Union Place on Dec. 13 to comply with provincial pandemic health orders. The Arden Theatre and Jarome Iginla and Kinex arenas closed on Nov. 24 for similar reasons.
Most municipalities were still figuring out what to reopen next week in response to the province’s new reopening plan, city parks and recreation director Diane Enger told council. St. Albert administration is working with sports groups to determine their needs and waiting on details of the province’s reopening framework before making any decisions.
Enger said St. Albert’s figure skaters and school sports academies have both asked to get back on the ice next week. She estimated the city could accommodate both groups if it reopens three of its five indoor ice sheets at a cost of $11,800 a week. The other two could have the ice scraped off them to save $5,500 a week. Administration has yet to decide which ice sheets would stay in service.
Enger said it would take about a week to get the city’s indoor rinks ready for use if the city decides to reopen them. The soonest they would be ready for action would be Feb. 15.
Enger said it would cost about $1,700 a week to reopen the gym spaces at Servus Place should the city’s sports academies want to use them. She recommended against opening them for the general public – under the province’s reopening framework, non-school-related indoor physical activity could only be done one-on-one with a certified trainer, and the city has just 20 certified trainers. She suggested the city offer more online training classes instead.
Enger recommended draining the Landrex Water Play Centre to save about $2,000 a week. Fountain Park, in contrast, should stay filled, as doing so would let the city quickly restart a wide array of aquatics programs should the pool reopen.
Scoble said the city has no plans to reopen the Arden come Feb. 8.
Coun. Natalie Joly said these decisions were meant to give the city flexibility to respond to the province’s health orders and “a little bit of hope” to residents who would like to use these facilities.
Coun. Ray Watkins called on administration to think of innovative ways to open up recreation facilities under the province’s heath orders, and suggested one-on-one training for basketball or pickleball as examples.
“It’s not always about profit and loss.”
In an email, St. Albert Public superintendent Krimsen Sumners said it was great to hear that St. Albert’s sports academy students could be back on the ice in a few weeks. The public and Catholic boards needed to see which sheets would stay open, though, and would have to modify their timetables considerably, as the academies normally use all five sheets.
Decisions on the city’s recreational facilities will be posted to stalbert.ca/covid19.
