Westsyde residents welcome proposed changes to Westsyde Pool and Fitness Centre hours

“We did have interest in having extended hours for the evening as well as Saturday and Sunday afternoon.”

A majority of survey respondents (87.1 per cent) said they used the facility, with the pool being the most popular draw (93.8 per cent), followed by the hot tub (67.4 per cent), fitness centre (49.5 per cent), sauna (45 per cent), steam room (38.6 per cent) and swimming lessons (37.6 per cent).

Of the people who said they didn’t use the facility, most (48.6 per cent) blamed the location, while about a quarter (24.8 per cent) said the operating hours didn’t suit their needs, while another quarter (24.3 per cent) blamed unreliable hours.

Holmes said these changes are expected to begin to take effect in January next year, and it will include the reshuffling hours from period of lower demand to periods of higher demand.

“If we can shave off a few minutes here and there to add some additional hours when the facility is in higher demand, then we’re going to do that,” Holmes added.

“We’re also going to be introducing some new programs, some private swimming lessons, additional swimming lessons out there so that we can offer more programs – private parties – those kinds of things. In the fall, we’re looking at adding some additional programming – try it programming and those types of activities.”

Elisa Houchen, the president of the Westsyde Community Development Society, welcomes these changes. She told CFJC the strong response to the survey shows how much the community “loves the facility.”

“I think the biggest issue was that [the facility] was closed when it wasn’t supposed to be closed and there were some problems with people showing up to the door and there was just a sign,” Houchen said.

“This community wants to use the facility and they’re pretty vocal about that. I was pretty happy with the results, I was pretty happy with the amount of people who responded, and I think the city did a really good job of engaging with our group as well as the community.”

The city will also be aligning operating hours so that the swimming pool and fitness centre are both open at the same time. Right now, the pool opens at 6:30 a.m. on weekdays and 9:45 a.m. on weekends, while the fitness centre opens at 6:00 a.m. on weekdays and 9:30 a.m. on weekends.

Current hours at the Westsyde Pool and Fitness Centre (Image Credit: City of Kamloops)

“People don’t have to pay larger gym memberships that way, they can come and use this because it’s here,” Houchen said. “One of the big problems was that this [fitness centre] wouldn’t be open if the pool wasn’t open, right, so it’s just tweaking those things to make sure the community is getting what they’ve now said that they want.”

These changes are also aimed at improving cost recovery at the Westsyde Pool and Fitness Centre, in a bid to reduce the annual taxpayer subsidy of more than $815,000. According to the city, the facility had a cost recovery rate of around 27 per cent, well below the city’s desired 50 per cent target for recreational facilities.

“The community has spoken very loud and clear about the desire to keep the pool up and functioning,” Holmes said.

“We’re going to work to make sure that we can improve the efficiencies of the hours that meet community needs as best we can so that we are doing a better job of cost recovery and that we are meeting that community demand.”

by Victor Kaisar

Westsyde residents welcome proposed changes to Westsyde Pool and Fitness Centre hours

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