The opening date for the new activity centre renovations currently in construction beside the Jasper Aquatics Centre has fallen some four to six months behind schedule, according to Yvonne McNabb, culture and recreation director for the town.

She informed council about the delay at their August 17 general meeting.

McNabb explained that the reason for the delay has to do with problems evaluating the strength of the foundations surrounding the Jasper swimming pool. McNabb said  workers at the construction site found that if they were to continue working as they were prior to August, they would’ve cut into the foundations of the pool and possibly caused it to crack. Obviously, workers wanted to avoid this problem and slowed their work.

The problems also mean that workers and designers at the site have had to go back to the drawing board somewhat and rethink the foundations for the activity centre.

Other problems have cropped up at the site and have led to some small delays which have built up into longer term stops.

According to a report about community service to council that McNabb put together, “Existing unknown conditions have caused delays on the project, this due to neither Parks nor the municipality having accurate drawings of the original (1950s era) underlying building structures.”

McNabb’s report also states that while it was known that the construction work at the site would be delayed by summer camps at the activity centre, those delays have been worse than expected.

“The need for flexibility has exacerbated these delays,” states the report.

The town is aiming to adopt a staggered opening schedule for the numerous parts.

The daycare space will open by the end of November and the new offices should be ready by the end of January 2011. The rest of the centre will hopefully be completed by the end of February 2011 states McNabb.

McNabb also said that the pool at the activity centre will be undergoing its regular month-long maintenance this October 18 to November 18 and will be entirely closed down during this time. This means that the Halloween Splash will be cancelled this year.

In other activity centre news, the seats at the arena in the complex are slated for replacement now and should be in the process of being removed and replaced. Anyone interested in acquiring an old seat from the arena, perhaps for sentimental reasons, is advised to contract Peter Bridge.