Gymnastics and trampoline programs once offered at the Queen’s Park Arenex will be suspended until a new interim facility is built.
Following the collapse of the Arenex, the city made arrangements with the school district to offer gymnastics and trampoline programs at the small Massey gym at New Westminster Secondary School With construction set to begin at the high school this fall, the city has announced the programs will be suspended after the summer session because that gym space will no longer be available.
“Despite our best efforts, we have determined that there are no other suitable locations to accommodate our gymnastics and trampoline programs beyond August 2017,” said Steve Kellock, senior manager of recreation services and facilities. “While we are disappointed that we cannot offer these programs in the fall, we are committed to moving forward with the new interim gymnastics and trampoline facility as quickly as possible.”
In June, New Westminster city council approved the development of a 24,000-square-foot gymnastics and multi-sport facility in Queen’s Park. In addition to providing space for gymnastics and trampoline programs once offered at the Arenex, the “bubble” facility will provide space for other sports programs that had been running out of the Arenex.
Kellock said the city currently has just under 600 registered participants at the high school for its gymnastics and trampoline programs. The city will continue to offer limited trampoline and gymnastics programs the Vancouver Circus School and will offer the Motoring Munchkins parent-child drop-in at centennial community Centre.
The facility, similar to the Poirier Forum in Coquitlam, will be on the old reservoir tennis court that’s located between the former Arenex and Queen’s Park Stadium. The facility is expected to be complete within a year.
In related news, demolition of the Arenex is getting underway - more than seven months after the roof collapsed.
“We have awarded a contract. It took a while because you have to do a hazardous material assessment so that the demolition contactors know what they are dealing with,” said Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering. “That took a fair bit of time, identifying asbestos, lead and that sort of stuff. Because it is a partially demolished site, you have to take care in doing that.”
A recently released engineering report concluded that there were multiple factors contributing to the collapse of the Arenex roof in December 2016 and one specific cause couldn’t’ be pinpointed. No further studies will be done to try and determine a specific cause.
“I don’t know what circumstances would warrant that, but we don’t think there is a need to do that, nor does our insurer,” Lowrie said. “We have done the investigation we really need to do.”
