Maple Ridge residents who enjoy a refreshing dip will be pleased to hear the leisure centre’s pools will be reopening soon.
The pools will be open starting Sept. 28 with safety measures in place that align with public health orders, and B.C.’s Restart Plan.
This will be the second reopening for the city’s indoor pool facilities this year. They were closed from March of 2018 until February of 2020 for renovations.
Locals had been itching to finally get take advantage of the $12-million upgrades earlier this year, only to have the newly revamped pools, lobby, and change rooms taken away within a matter of months due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This reopening for the pool will be done gradually.
The first stage will include providing registered access to lane and leisure swimming, Aquafit and swim club training.
For those interested in swimming lessons, an update is expected later in the fall.
READ MORE: Maple Ridge’s indoor pools undergo work during COVID shutdown
The City of Maple Ridge’s health and wellness manager, Crista Balatti, said access to community amenities such as the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre (MRLC) are key to ensuring residents can remain active and healthy during the pandemic.
“Our aquatics team has developed a comprehensive safety plan to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19,” she said.
“In addition to requiring registration for all activities, the safety plan also outlines new procedures surrounding physical distancing, mandatory health screenings, facility capacity and sanitization.”
Ballatti said the new procedures will change the typical pool experience, but noted that are necessary to ensure the pools reopen as safely as possible.
“We will continue to evaluate updates from the PHO and local health authority on a regular basis and will work towards a full facility reopening when it is safe to do so.”
The reopening of the indoor pool at the MRLC will complement a variety of registered programs and services including the fitness centre, gymnasium and indoor group fitness programming that reopened earlier this summer.
Registration for drop-in pool activities will begin Sept. 20 at 8 a.m. – both online (mapleridge.ca/1484), and over the phone (604-467-7422).
Starting in October, registration for all fall drop-in activities will be on a month-by-month basis.
Learn more at mapleridge.ca/1452, where the schedule of registered pool drop-in activities, an FAQ, registration information, a copy of the safety plan, and more can be found.
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter