The Cortez Recreation Center is officially reopening Monday — although with some restrictions.
The Rec Center has been closed for a few months because of the coronavirus, but after the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released new guidelines, the facility will be able to reopen June 8.
“It’s just nice to be able to offer this to the community once again,” said Dean Palmquist, director of the Parks and Recreation department. “But we all have to do our part to have safe practices, and I think the city’s been very conscientious of having tiers in place and steps moving forward when the time is right to do so.”
The reopening will be Tier 1 of the plan. Some parts of the facility will remain closed, hours of operation will be reduced, and equipment has been shuffled around to keep people spread out.
The Rec Center will be open Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the building. Originally, city staff had hoped to reopen the lap pool too, but on Friday, it was discovered that the pool was experiencing some water loss, and so the pool’s opening is being delayed.
All non-electrical, cardio equipment (like spin bikes) has been moved to the gymnasium, where the machines are spaced out on the outer edges of the room. The facility had been planning on dropping a curtain in the middle of the gym in order to create two “rooms” in the space, further separating the machines, but after the latest guidelines, the facility can now have 50 patrons in a room, said Joye McHenry, Recreation Center supervisor.
That’s more than enough to allow for all the machines to be filled in the gymnasium area, she said.
Electrical cardio equipment, circuit machines and hand weights will remain upstairs at the Rec Center. Arrows on the floor guide patrons through the upstairs machine area, and weightlifters are asked to leave weights on the floor so they can be sanitized by an attendant before being returned to the rack.
Public locker rooms will be closed, but family changing rooms will be open.
Also closed for the first phase of reopening will be the rock wall, racquetball courts, room reservation, the leisure pool, public restrooms, child watch, the gymnasium for non-equipment use, the walking track, pool table and fitness classes.
Before entering the Rec Center, users will have their temperature checked inside the front door. If the temperature is 100.4 degrees or higher, they will be asked to find shade for 15 minutes before returning to the facility and having it taken once again.
Patrons will be required to wear masks while in the building, but won’t have to do so while exercising. Rec Center users can enter the facility through the front door, but they will be asked to exit out the door by the rock wall.
All membership passes will be reactivated on June 8, with monthly payments processed June 9. One-time entry fees have been reduced to $3, and 83 days are being added to the expiration date for memberships paid in full.
McHenry said it’s been hard to keep up with the pace of changes from the state. Setting plans for the Rec Center’s safe reopening takes time, but new orders are coming every few days. Once Tier 1 has been established at the Rec Center, they can then adapt processes and be “more reactive” to the dynamic orders, she said.
And when the Rec Center is able to proceed into its next tiers of reopening, and begin to offer fitness classes once again, the city will be able to begin bringing back staffers who had been laid off.
ealvero@the-journal.com