Tile upgrading means no pool in Penticton for the summer

PENTICTON – Penticton residents will have to make do with the two lakes if they wish to swim this summer as the city deals with slippery pool tiles.

The Penticton Community Centre Pool will be closed for a seven-week period beginning July 27 in order to have the pool deck’s tiles replaced. It is expected to reopen Sept. 13.

City council approved additional funding to cover the costs after the city received only one qualified bid for the work. Communications Officer Simone Blais says the only qualified bid came in at just over $299,000, but the city had only budgeted $150,000. Staff scraped the money together from seven other budget accounts, the majority coming from energy retrofits.

Problems with slippery tiles at Penticton Community Centre Pool cropped up soon after the pool expansion four years ago. A maintenance program to treat the tiles in order to make them less slippery has proven to be more expensive than replacing the tiles would be. Staff estimate cost of maintenance of the tiles at more than $79,000 annually. Based on that figure, the replacement cost of $299,000 would be paid for in just under four years.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.