The doors to the Chestermere Regional Recreation Centre are set to close indefinitely on Friday evening following a meeting with stakeholders over public safety concerns.
Representatives from Rocky View County, the Chestermere Regional Community Association and the City of Chestermere met on Thursday to discuss concerns with the building’s roof over one of its ice surfaces.
“All three parties agree public safety cannot be compromised,” a joint statement from the three representatives said.
“There is a shared effort underway to resume regular operations as soon as possible.”
The concerns were raised after an engineering assessment commissioned by Rocky View County found inefficiencies in the roof over the facility’s red arena, which forced county council to announce the building’s closure.
According to the assessment, the roof could collapse if it’s subjected to a heavy snowpack over the winter, and with snow in the forecast over the weekend, county officials said they didn’t want to take a chance.
“Better to be safe than sorry,” Rocky View County Reeve Greg Boehlke told Global News on Wednesday.
“I would have a hard time sleeping if we hadn’t made a major move and some catastrophe happened.”
However, the CRCA disagreed with the closure.
Earlier this summer, the CRCA commissioned Stantec to do an engineering assessment on the red arena’s roof, and it determined that while the roof is below code, there is no risk to public safety and the roof should be monitored throughout the winter.
“This misguided, surprising and unfortunate decision made by the Rocky View County has caught the CRCA as off-guard as it has the entire community,” CRCA board president Paul Godley said Wednesday.
“We are saddened by this decision and are currently trying to reach out to thousands of our affected members and user groups to put alternate arrangements in place.”
There is no timeline on how long the building will be closed, or what each of the parties involved in Thursday’s meeting will be contributing to resolving the issue.
Officials said it will be business as usual at the facility with all recreation programs and venue bookings continuing until its closure at 5 p.m. on Friday.
In a news release issued on Wednesday by the CRCA, officials said there will be no refunds until the direction of the building has been decided.
Further information will be released when it becomes available, according to the joint statement issued by stakeholders on Thursday.