The City of Humboldt’s Leisure Services Department is giving some consideration to reconfiguring and renovating the fitness room at the Uniplex.
A report presented to Humboldt City Council at Monday’s Executive Meeting advocated the renos to provide space for dryland training in the Uniplex. A delegation to the January 13 Council Meeting made a request that the City consider working toward providing space for an area that hockey, baseball, volleyball and other sporting groups could use toward their training regimens. A lack of arena ice time and the growth of indoor sports has put a premium on existing gymnasiums for that type of training. There is also increasing need from school-based programs whose gyms are also made available to outside groups.
With the fitness room being the only year-round accessible indoor public facility in the city, Community and Leisure Services Director Mike Ulriksen and his team looked at the prospects within that room.
“The arena has ice in it for half the year, the curling rink has ice in it for half the year, so apart from the convention centre, which is something that might be the next step we have to be looking at, alterations to the fitness room might be a safe quick first step where we can help meet some of that demand,” Ulriksen told Council.
Some of the proposed changes would include downscaling some of the current weight equipment, reconfiguring some of the remaining equipment, reducing the drop-in hours in favour of group bookings, and investing in additional specialized equipment in consultation with sport specific coaches and trainers.
The report concluded with the advice that the City needs to start thinking outside the box beyond its historic practices. There’s a good possibility that the increased usership could result in additional revenue. Between the sale of equipment, utilizing donations and new revenue streams, the renos could be done in a cost-effective manner.
Councillor Sarah McInnis expressed concern that the removal of equipment and repurposing may have an impact on seniors, a sizeable user group. Mayor Rob Muench also expressed concern that alienating existing user groups might result in a loss of revenue rather than an increase. He also wanted CLS to ensure consultation with sporting groups to ensure the reconfigured space would meet their needs.
Ulriksen said the CLS would do due diligence in consultation with user groups. The design plan would not be completed until summer which would give plenty of time for community engagement.
Council accepted the recommendation with those conditions of consultation.