Images show  some of the features to be incorporated in the  leisure pool – image courtesy Cariboo Regional District

Williams Lake, B.C.- The general reaction to the concept images for the Sam Ketcham Pool renovations is a positive one.

Residents of the Cariboo Regional District attended an open house this week, to get a look at the concept drawing for the $11.1 million dollar project.

Kevin Klippenstein is one of the architects who worked on the design and says reaction to the drawings was positive “A lot of people offered a lot of feedback and a lot of people had a lot of questions”.

There were some concerns expressed says Klippenstein, “There were some concerns about the lane swimming and the phasing of the project and were they really going to get a facility that will meet their needs and I think that when they had a chance to understand what was being proposed, they were impressed by how much more they were getting than what they were expecting.”

Phase one will be the expansion of the facility adding a 6 lane lap pool. Concurrent with that work will be the expansion of the change rooms “There will be a new family change room area, and we will also do at the same time the upstairs new fitness facilities.”

The project   will see the creation of a very busy leisure pool complete with features such as; a water slide, a ‘kids car wash’, a bubble zone, an area for tots, and a ramp to ensure accessibility for all residents.

He is confident the work will meet the   budget “We just had a cost estimate come in and we’re confident we can bring it in at the projected budget by the feasibility study. We have the right team to do that   that has lots of experience in these types of facilities, we have the right project management team on board, the right consultants on board to see that happen.”

Klippenstein says the design team will head back to work on making some adjustments to the design from the feedback they received. “There will be some tweaks to the design in the fitness area, there will be some tweaks to the leisure pool as well, so it’s just tweaking that then finalizing it   before we go ahead with the working drawings.”

He says   it is hoped the project will be underway in April.