Delta residents could see a return to outdoor pools, outdoor fitness and summer camps and limited sport skills development in mid-June to early July.
At a special council meeting Tuesday afternoon, Delta council endorsed the city’s reopening plan for city hall and parks, recreation and culture facilities.
According to the plan, presented by city manager Sean McGill, partial facility reopening falls under stage three, which starts mid-June and rolls into September.
Stage three includes:
- City Hall for tax payments and limited public access for meetings (starting June 15), with increased levels of service added for priority business functions that cannot be effectively done remotely. The virtual city hall will continue to be the service delivery model promoted
- North Delta and Ladner outdoor pools with limits on participants (early July)
- Outdoor fitness and summer camps (early July)
- Sport skills development on fields and at Tilbury Ice arena for organized non-contact play/practice (in accordance with sport association guidelines) mid-June to early July.
Based on current guidelines, Delta’s water spray parks and the Fred Gingell stairs will remain closed.
The reason spray parks will remain closed is because all three Delta spray parks operate on tap water and are not chlorinated to the same level as swimming pools.
Outdoor pools would operate to the end of the Labour Day weekend. Mid-day to evening hours will be dedicated to public swimming with morning hours set aside for swim club practice.
No fees will be charged for public swims and normal rental rates will apply to the swim club use.
Registration will be limited to Delta residents only.
There will also be enhanced cleaning and health and safety protocols in place.
As for outdoor fitness programs, Delta has proposed the artificial turf field at North Delta Community Park and Winskill Park to include high intensity interval training, yoga and simple stretch classes.
Participants will be required to bring their own mats and water bottles.
Delta is targeting mid-June to early July to start these programs which will run until September.
Registration will be for Delta residents only and a proposed $5 fee would be charged.
Day care summer camps are being proposed in the dry floor arenas of both North Delta and South Delta recreation centres. The camps will run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 29 to Sept. 4, allowing for working parents to have places for their children to play safely.
Registration will also be limited to Delta residents only with fees remaining the same as 2019 at $250 per week. There will also be enhanced cleaning and health and safety protocols in place.
Sports skills development on fields as well at Tilbury ice arena will be initiated in mid-June to early July.
Organizations will be required to have and follow a COVID-19 exposure control plan that has been authorized by their relevant sporting organization.
Stage three reopening’s are estimated to cost Delta $270,000 as well, up to 88 staff would be recalled to operate all of the programs and services.
Stage four of Delta’s plan, which would start in September, would include the opening of indoor fitness facilities and gymnasiums with restrictions, a partial reopening of indoor pools, modified arena use (no contact sports and limits on participants) and City Hall for increased services.
Stage five calls for a full facility reopening, which would be at the end of the pandemic and would include facilities open for modified use in earlier stages returning to full capacity, the opening of seniors’ centres and arts centres and the resumption of larger scale community events and festivals.
“It is critical that implementation of the reopening plan is done in a manner that ensures the health and safety of staff and the public and responds to any changes in directives from the Provincial Health Officer as required to manage the spread of COVID-19,” said McGill. “As such, this plan must be viewed as a living document as it will be subject to further refinement and updating over time.”
Delta has already completed an initial reopening of outdoor recreation facilities under stage two of its plan, which includes: tennis and pickleball courts, artificial turf fields, skate a bike parks, sport courts and lacrosse boxes, picnic tables and park furniture and playgrounds and basketball courts, with educational signage.
Mayor and council called the plan an excellent report and praised staff for their work on getting it in place.
McGill said in the coming days, staff will be meeting again with Delta user groups and clubs to update them on the Delta’s plans and that each organization would have to continue to work with their sport governing bodies on their return to sport policies, as well, any community groups that utilize city facilities will be required to work with Delta staff on how they will be able to return to operation.
