Town of Sylvan Lake staff are hoping the closure of the Aquatic Centre will be short-lived, but say they’re taking no chances when it comes to the public’s safety.
The Aquatic Centre was declared “closed until further notice” as of May 1 after safety concerns were raised in light of a recently completed structural assessment.
The assessment showed corrosion on structural steel, the result of being in a chlorine-rich and humid environment, according to Town of Sylvan Lake public works director Dave Brand.
“As a result, our engineers advised us that we should close the facility until we can get shoring put in place,” he said. “We’re actively working on it, and I would like to suggest it’s a duration of days to weeks as opposed to months.
“It’s hopefully a relatively short-term thing for us to be able to turn around and get the facility re-opened.”
The structural assessment was carried out in association with the NexSource Centre Multiplex Redevelopment Project. The Aquatic Centre will eventually be connected to the new complex.
While staff knew upgrades would eventually be required as part of that development, the need for repair arrived sooner than they expected.
“We knew that this was kind of an eventuality and we wanted to determine the exact severity of it,” said Brand. “It was a little bit more advanced than we thought it was.”
While some programming housed in the facility has been put on hold, ensuring the public’s safety is priority, Brand added.
“It’s important for us that when we get something like that, we don’t take any chances,” he said. “Unfortunately, it meant we had to close the facility, but we’ve been in touch with some contractors, and obviously our engineers are working to come up with a solution so we can try and get in there as soon as possible and get the facility open again.”
The facility opened in 2000.