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Saskatoon is set to begin opening facilities as part of Phase 4 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.
Phase 4 will take place in two stages, with stage one beginning Monday, June 22, which will include outdoor-type leisure and recreation facilities. The date for the second stage, which will include indoor-type facilities is still to be determined.
“The city is pleased the provincial government has now announced an opening date for the first part of Phase 4 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan. Many of us are eager to get out to the ball diamond, the pool and spray parks as soon as possible, but that will take a little extra time,” said Community Services General Manager Lynne Lacroix.
The most pressing issue for Lacroix is hiring back the staff necessary to operate the vast amount of outdoor facilities.
“The biggest barrier for us, we believe, in getting the sheer number of staff hired, trained, on-boarded … and then also orientating them to the new safety protocols that are directly connected to the public health orders,” she said “So a couple of facets we’ll work our way through as we continue to bring staff on.”
Many of the staff required at these facilities — roughly 180, according to Lacroix — were laid-off in early March, and the typical summer seasonal hiring did not take place for the Summer Play Program.
Lacroix is looking at hiring anywhere from 430 to 470 previous and new staff to get every facility running.
The opening of outdoor recreation facilities includes 2,000 hectares of green space, in addition to the vast amount of structures and permanent sites.
There are nearly 280 sports fields in Saskatoon. Roughly 180 of them will open for use on Monday, with the remaining 100 being multipurpose rental fields and ball diamonds used primarily for sports organizations opening on July 1.
Full contact sports will not be permitted at this time under the provincial guidelines.
Plenty of maintenance work has been done on the rental fields, but extra time is needed before crews are ready for the extra traffic.
“They anticipate over the course of this coming week, they’ll get all of those totally groomed and ready for the leagues to start up,” Lacroix said.
Fields might look different this summer. Lacroix mentioned much of the pressure to hire workers and meet the target dates hinge on proper signage being posted in the areas and added safety precautions being put in place where necessary. Otherwise, the targeted dates could be moved.
“It will be dependent on the readiness or willingness for employees to come back to work,” Lacroix said. “Making sure each of the facilities have the appropriate barriers that they need and that they have all of the sanitation and cleaning supplies they need.”
City properties also include 250 play structures, 38 tennis courts, 18 pickleball courts, 11 dog parks, three golf course, multiple skateboard sites, disc golf and more.
Spray pads will begin opening on Monday, with a target to open all of them by June 26.
Riversdale and George Ward pools are targeted to open the first week of July. Lathey and Mayfair pools opening date is still to be determined.
The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo is targeted to open for the first week of July.
Play programs and paddling pools are targeted to open in mid-July and the leisure centres will open pending the announcement of Phase 4.2 by the province.
The beginning of Phase 4 also signals the end of the park ambassador program initiated by the city last month. Lacroix said all park ambassadors would be reallocated by the end of the month.
“We’re ready and we’re going to continue to phase in the work that we’re going to do to get as many outdoor play and recreation and sport opportunities open and available for people,” Lacroix said.