The Town of Outlook’s new swimming pool facility has reached troubled waters with the announcement made last week; the opening of the pool has been delayed until 2019.
A long winter in this part of the province and unseasonal weather conditions are the main culprits behind the action taken by the town. The targeted completion date of the facility was originally going to be July 1 – as everyone crossed their collective fingers – but Mother Nature and Old Man Winter extended their stay in the region and pushed that date to August. With that knowledge, the pool was only going to be open for roughly four weeks this summer, so the decision was reached to wait until the facility was 100% completed and hold the grand opening early next summer.
The announcement letter posted on the Town of Outlook’s Facebook page states the following:
“Dear Town of Outlook Residents:
This letter is to inform the general public, and the residents of the Town of Outlook, as well as the RM of Rudy and the RM of Fertile Valley of the delayed pool opening.
The original projected completion date for the new pool was July 1st, 2018. However, the unseasonably long winter conditions have interfered with the proposed construction schedule, and therefore the earliest possible completion date of the pool will be early August, 2018. Council decided an announcement had to be made so families could register for swimming lessons and lifeguards could find summer jobs elsewhere.
Town of Outlook Council was forced to make a decision to only open the pool for a maximum of four (4) weeks in summer 2018, or to wait until the pool project was fully completed and hold the Pool Grand Opening in Early Summer 2019.
At the April 11, 2018, Town of Outlook Council Meeting the Council passed the following motion:
#233-18 "That Council declares that the Town of Outlook Pool will not be opened in 2018 due to weather delays."
Council will hold the New Swimming Pool Grand Opening in Early Summer 2019."
The letter was signed by Recreation Director Jordy Jones.
It’s the news that local swimmers in Outlook and the surrounding area likely don’t want to hear, but it’s simply the reality surrounding the project.
People in the community who are directly connected to the new swimming pool are undoubtedly disappointed, but there’s also a prerogative to look ahead to the future and maintain a ‘good things come to those who wait’ kind of mindset; staying positive in the hopes that when the pool *does* open its doors, it’s 100% open for both business and pleasure.
“I guess there’s some disappointment, but we’re not the ones who make that decision,” said Tony Peter of the Pool Fundraising Committee. “There are negatives, sure, and that means it’s now three years without any swimming in Outlook. A positive would be though that it’ll be 100% ready by next spring, and now perhaps there’s a possibility of opening even earlier. It could even be all tested this fall so that they know of any glitches that need to be worked out.”
The other positive from Peter’s point of view is that the fundraising committee has roughly another year to raise money in order to completely pay off the project.
“So we have a period of time, about another full year to raise more money, which is good because we NEED more money,” he said. “The need for it is there. As far as fundraising goes, there has been some talk about maybe doing an auction event in the fall, and now that the pool is delayed, it brings the idea forward more as an option. However, we can’t really do a lot of fundraising out in the district because it’s seeding time, and those people will want to get going on that really soon. After that, you get the summer holidays where people are go-go-go again, so it just comes down to really sitting down and planning something.”
In the wake of the news surrounding Outlook’s pool, officials with the Kenaston swimming pool are asking any lifeguards and swimming teachers to forward their resumes on to them if they’re looking for summer work, as that facility expects to be open by June 1. Now that the Outlook pool won’t open this year, Kenaston expects to be busy this summer with kids and families.
