Following a presentation to council earlier this month, Brad Anderson, manager of Genesis Place, revealed the recreation centre is seeking to implement a priority registration system to ensure locals get first dibs on services and programming this fall.
He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an influx of out-of-town registrants to many of the recreation centre’s most popular programs, alongside a substantial number of Airdronians.
“We have a record number of pass-holders and admissions coming through our doors right now from Airdrie residents,” he said. “I think the issue that we’re facing is more on the program side.”
Anderson added child and youth programs, and swimming lessons are some of the most popular programs at the facility. Those interested in enrolling in these programs are encouraged to set up an account on the facility’s online registration system, which currently operates on a first come, first served basis.
Anderson added as soon as registration opens for a program currently, anyone online with an account can register – and they do not have to be an Airdrie resident to do so.
“Tech savvy people in Calgary are creating Airdrie accounts and booking their children to come in and take spots away from Airdrie residents,” he said.
Anderson said this results in a disproportionate number of Airdrie residents – numbering in the hundreds – being placed on a wait list to enrol in local programming.
“The precious spots that we have are getting taken up by people that are non-residents,” he said.
According to Anderson, the City of Calgary has been slow to resume their normal levels of programming at their own recreation facilities, resulting in pressure on neighbouring municipalities to service the shortfall.
“You can imagine that when the City of Calgary has reduced their program offerings by about 80 per cent, it puts pressure on other surrounding municipalities,” he said. “Our facilities are picking up that demand from Calgary because they’re not being serviced.”
He said he thinks the City of Calgary has held off resuming its normal levels of service due to staffing shortages during the pandemic.
“They haven’t been able to staff up,” he said. “That’s why we’re seeing the crunch from Calgary come onto Airdrie to access our [services] – because they can actually get spots here in our facility.”
In terms of the impact of the pandemic on the local recreation centre, Anderson said staff weren’t sure what recovery would look like for the facility and Airdrie residents a few months ago.
He added they are already seeing an increase in local pass-holders following the removal of the Restriction Exemption Program (REP).
“We’re very encouraged by the recovery coming out of COVID and the utilization of our facility,” he said.
He added before the pandemic started, Genesis Place had just over 7,000 pass holders. Now, the facility has more than 8,500, with 95 per cent of those patrons from Airdrie.
“We’re seeing almost 11 per cent of the Airdrie population have a pass at Genesis Place at the moment,” Anderson said.
During the April 4 council meeting where Anderson first presented these statistics and other findings, a recommendation was made – and endorsed – by council to implement a priority registration system in favour of Airdrie and Rocky View County residents.
This proposed system, which would encourage local participation in City recreation programs, would take effect in the fall of this year.
“We’re still working out the details, but I think a plan at the moment is to have some sort of resident-only registration window,” Anderson said. “Before those spots get opened up to anyone else – resident or not.
“We of course still want to fill all the spots that are available, but the first four or five days of each registration cycle will open exclusively for Airdrie and Rocky View residents.”
