Beginning Monday, Feb. 6, the Sam Ketcham Pool will be closed for three months as construction of the new facility transitions from Phase One to Phase Two.
“We always knew there would be a closure of some length. We just hoped it would be measured in weeks not months,” said Darron Campbell, Cariboo Regional District’s manager of community services.
Campbell said the closure is necessary to facilitate the major mechanical and electrical changes required in the construction.
The entire aquatic facility, including the original lap pool, pool change rooms and temporary fitness centre, will be closed for nine to 12 weeks while the rest of the Cariboo Memorial Complex will remain open with the ice arenas and Gibraltar Room operating as usual.
In the springtime when Phase One opens, the public will be greeted with a new six-lane by 25-metre lap pool, large hot tub, sauna and steam room and a new fitness centre upstairs as well as improved change rooms on the main floor, while the original lap pool will be demolished and converted to a leisure pool including a water slide and lazy river.
Campbell said construction on the Sam Ketcham Pool remains on budget and on target for full completion in the fall of 2017.
The Sam Ketcham Pool upgrade project is a joint initiative of the Cariboo Regional District and City of Williams Lake with a budget of $13.1 million.