Warranty work on some recently-added new features is the reason why the W.C. Blair public pool in Murrayville has been shut down for a month, Township of Langley manager of facilities, planning and construction Farzad Ardestani said.
“Usually the pool is closed down for two weeks in December for maintenance,” Ardestani told the Langley Advance Times, “but the caulking in the kid’s ‘water table’ had to be redone [along with other work].”
A shallow indoor play area for small children, the water table was one of several new features added to the facility at 22200 Fraser Highway during extensive renovations last year, along with easier-to-use steps to enter the pool, a climbing wall over the deep end, an expanded family changing room and a reconfigured parking lot.
Lighter tiles were used to brighten the pool, along with a white ceiling with new sound baffles that do a better job of softening the echoes.
All of the repairs to the new features is covered under a warranty agreement with the contractor, who is carrying out the work at no expense to the Township, Ardestani said.
Going forward, Ardestani said he considers it likely the annual shutdown will have to expanded beyond two weeks.
“It takes about three weeks to do proper maintenance [at W.C. Blair], Ardestani said.
Next week, the pool is scheduled to re-open Tuesday, March 12, at 6 a.m.
All other areas of the recreation centre have remained open while the pool maintenance was underway.
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Upgrades to the pool last year took longer than originally scheduled because unexpected problems were encountered by work crews.
A memo to council described how “significant issues were encountered” when demolition crews took down the walls and concrete slabs in the facility.
Among other things, concrete slabs that were supposed to be a foot thick turned out to be three feet thick, along with “failing and deteriorating pool and sanitary piping, and failing pool features” which required additional work, a report to council stated.
W.C. Blair is the oldest indoor pool in the Township, having first opened its doors on Dec. 12, 1986.
For more information about the pool and the programs it offers, visit tol.ca/wcblair.
Residents may also contact the Township of Langley’s Parks and Recreation Division at 604-533-6170 or by email at prinfo@tol.ca.