Westsyde Pool Could Close Until 2016

Kamloops Parks, Recreation and Culture department is recommending council temporarily close Westsyde Community Centre until the fall of 2016 in order to perform extensive building repairs.

Staff suggest in their report to council on Tuesday that in January there was an interior roof leak caused by excessive amounts of moisture in the building.

This moisture then caused the ceiling to fail and drop subsequently resulting the closure of the pool to ensure public safety of the building.

Following this closure, a $30,000 temporary fix was performed to ensure the pool was operational for the public to use.

Photo Credit: City of Kamloops - Westsyde Community Centre Roof Damage

The report suggests that the projected cost of the removal and replacement of the pool roof system and insulation to be approximately $1.3 million to $2.1 million, which is not currently in the budget.

Parks, Recreation and Culture Director Byron McCorkell said, "We are recommending the pool section of the building be closed until its regular start up in September of 2016 to allow us to complete construction design tendering and inclusion of funding request in the 2016 budget and then replacement of the entire roof section over the pool."

McCorkell suggests that it is a major piece of work and therefore they want to plan it out and budget properly.

"By using the regular start up date as a opening date, then it provides a timeline contingency in case we run into any other unforeseen issues as it is a 40-year-old building," said McCorkell.

The closure that staff are suggesting would take place from June 2015 to September 2016 and would only affect the pool portion of the Westsyde Community Centre.

City Council will make a final decision on repairs to Westsyde Pool on Tuesday afternoon at their meeting.

Photo Credit: City of Kamloops