Making the rounds at Masich Place Stadium will take more than just showing up once it's reopened.
Specific times have not yet been set, but walkers and runners who want to do laps around the track will be limited to a "concentrated period of time from the early morning to early afternoon," city public works director Gina Layte-Liston said Thursday.
It will also be off limits to the public whenever a user group has booked the facility. And whenever it is in use, city staff will be on site.
Prior to the closure in May 2017 to make way for a major renovation, it was affectively open to the public all day - with walkers and runners often using the track even while others, such as the Cheetahs track and field club, were holding practices.
Other communities with similar facilities have the same types of measures in place, Layte-Liston said.
"There are concerns with vandalism and other things that can happen," she said. "Also, from a customer service point of view, having city staff on site can provide to the user groups."
The facility will be reopened shortly after the August long weekend once a $4.8-million revamping has been completed.
The work has centred on installation of a new track and what the city says is the first outdoor synthetic field in northern B.C. The field will meet standards for hosting major sporting events and allow for longer playing seasons and a fallback when natural turf fields are unavailable or damaged.
It will also feature a consolidated jumps area, a permanent throwing facilities and cages and other upgrades such as trail development. The exterior of the grandstand was also repainted.
Work still to be done includes curbing and line painting on the track, fence construction, construction of the pole vault shed and jump pit covers and grading of the throws landing area.
"This has been a very complicated project and I think that happens when you have these large-scale projects with a number of features, a number of contractors, a lot of specialty work that needs to get done," Layte-Liston said.
Later this fall, the city will issue a survey to get a sense of how well the hours are working and whether they need some adjustment. Based on anecdotal evidence, Layte-Liston said the morning has typically been the most popular time for the general public using the track and is also the time when staff are out doing their work.
She said making the public aware of all the places in the city they can walk will be part of the campaign.
