Okotoks town councillors were surprised to learn statistics from the Okotoks Recreation Centre reveal an increase in the number of Calgarians registering for pool programs.
The aquatics centre annual report presented to Council on Sept. 28 and showed 24.4 per cent of people registered for swimming lessons at the pool are from Calgary, while 56 per cent were from Okotoks and 16.9 per cent are MD of Foothills residents.
Coun. Carrie Fischer was shocked by the numbers.
“We hear anecdotally from Okotoks and MD parents that they can’t get their kids into lessons and programs because they’re full,” she said. “It startled me that Calgary registrations had increased.”
Currently, registration for Okotoks swimming lessons are closed to residents outside of Okotoks and the MD for 72 hours, but Fischer said she would like to see this time increased to five or seven days.
“We need to provide service to Okotoks residents first, and MD residents, before we’re opening up our local pool to Calgary registrants,” she said. “Our responsibility is to make sure we’re providing adequate opportunity to our residents.”
Community services director Susan Laurin said there is high demand for the Learn to Swim program, specifically the preschool-aged lessons up to levels five or six.
Laurin said the pool has to accommodate the town’s population growth by increasing the number of instructors and the number of days lessons are offered.
“We even offer lessons on Sundays now, which we never have before, and we started doing lessons mid-day for some of the preschool levels,” she said.
The pool has also worked with local school divisions to offer learn to swim through the school gym classes as part of curriculum to relieve some pressure, she said.
Laurin said if council chooses to extend the advanced registration window for swimming lessons, she recommends limiting it to the basic Learn to Swim program.
“Some of the Calgary registrations are in the advanced aquatics courses, like the Bronze Medallion,” said Laurin. “At that level, we don’t always hit capacity because they are very specialized and not every child goes on to the lifesaving courses.”
Specialized lifesaving courses are not offered as readily at other facilities, she said, and rarely operate at full capacity.
Laurin said the Town reviews trends and reworks the aquatic centre schedule every year to attempt to relieve the demand of residents.
“There is definitely congestion in our basic learn to swim program,” said Laurin. “We can only see where the highest demand lies and add courses where we can to best meet and accommodate the needs of our growing community.”
