The Northern Lights Palace Pool in Melfort has been shut down since March and is set to open again in May. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Palace Pool

What’s going on with the Northern Lights Palace Pool in Melfort?

Feb 19, 2021 | 2:00 PM

It’s been almost a full calendar year since the Northern Lights Palace pool in Melfort has been open to the public.

The facility, along with most other facilities in Melfort, was shut down in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the arena and other facilities have opened in Melfort under the current public health guidelines. The pool was allowed to open as part of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan over the summer, but the city decided not to open it, but why?

“Strictly budgetary,” said Mayor Glenn George. “Until we decided to do the major renovations, and then there was no way that we could open it.”

Those major renovations are still ongoing, and have totaled about six months up to this point, and are expected to wrap up very soon. Some of the renovations were done in part thanks to the safe restart funding that came from the provincial government. Some of the projects included new tile for the pool, resurfacing the change rooms, replacing some structural poles, fixing parts of the wave chamber, some hot tub leaks being repaired, and a new mural was installed on the east wall.

The Northern Lights Palace pool is approaching its 30th birthday and George told northeastNOW these renovations needed to be done at some point.

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“Maybe if we had planned it a year in advance, and had everything ready to go, maybe we could have had it done in three to four months, instead of six months,” he said.

Normally, there would be a three to four week shutdown of the pool in about September, but that won’t be needed until 2022 now.

In recent weeks, the city also received letters from concerned citizens wanting the pool to be filled and opened. George said he’s heard those concerns and they are valid. That has led to the City of Melfort releasing a plan as well as some answers as to what has been happening for the last few months. That plan says the city is scheduled to open the pool as of May 1, under the COVID-19 restrictions in place at that time. George said it’s a plan that can be adjusted as the public health guidelines change. There are still a number of boxes to be checked before the pool can open.

The City released this plan on Friday, Feb. 19 as they look to open their pool in May. (Mat Barret/northeastNOW Staff)

Once the renovations at the pool are complete, there will be about two months’ worth of cleanup before the pool can be filled. After that, staff will need to be re-hired and re-trained before being able to open.

With the possibility of public health measures changing between now and May, rules are tentative, but the city is saying the capacity for public swim will be 65. The hot tub, sauna, change rooms and waterslide will be usable with physical distancing and there will be increased cleaning for high touch areas.

The cost for running the pool will change as well this year. Normally, the net cost of the facility is around $550,000, but the city is expecting that to rise to about $615,000 due to the pandemic restrictions, and only being open starting in May.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6