The North Battleford Leisure Services department has released its latest reopening plan for the period June to September 2021.
The plan was presented by Director of Leisure Services Cheryl DeNeire at Monday’s city council meeting.
DeNeire said the plan — which she emphasized is not set in stone — is tied specifically to the province’s re-opening. DeNeire also said they are taking a conservative approach, given that summers are slow in their facilities.
She says conditions are difficult to predict “but there will be a level of hesitancy to come back.” She also noted some of their facilities aren’t air conditioned.
Currently, Leisure Services is in Step One of the reopening. When Step Two takes effect in the province on June 20, the plan is for the Battleford Co-op Aquatic Centre to begin to transition back to full operations as of July 5. According to DeNeire’s report the largest change, outside of an increase in occupancy rate, is the ability to have more than one program running in the same pool at the same time. Distancing will still be required.
There will be an occupancy of 150 within the building, with a maximum of 135 in the pool area. This is up from the current 80.
NationsWest Field House will also be open from July 5 to Sept. 3 according to the following schedule: Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon; Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday noon to 8 p.m.
Again, occupancy is limited to 150 in the building, with operational hours taking into consideration the fact that summer months have the lowest attendance numbers and it may take time to reintegrate the field house into resident schedules.
Outdoor sports received the go-ahead from the province May 30 during Step One. Youth and adult outdoor sports had most restrictions lifted at that time. Game and league play is now allowed with an outdoor maximum of 150 spectators. Each group is required to provide Central Booking with their COVID-19 plan until it is no longer required by the SHA.
Currently, the Access Communication Centre and Don Ross Arena are closed for the season. Step Three of reopening on July 11 includes the lifting of most pandemic restrictions, including spectator levels. There may be a chance that one or two events will be booked, but as of now those venues have no confirmed bookings for the summer.
Allen Sapp Gallery is currently fully operational, open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Chapel Gallery is presently closed but the plan is for that venue to reopen in September.
That last point drew plenty of discussion from council, with Councillor Kent Lindgren noting that it had been moved from a July reopen.
City Manager Randy Patrick noted they were still intending to run council meetings in the venue until September. But the main reason September was picked was because they were “pretty sure” shows could run on that date.
“We made some assumptions and looked at the track we were on,” said Patrick. Also, DeNeire said the curator had indicated they had begun to approach artists, but “it takes months to get their bookings in and settled. She’s also recognizing September is a good time to start.”
A September-December reopening plan will be presented to council in August.
