The difficult decision has been made to close the Fernie Community Centre, effective June 12.

City of Fernie staff have noted the Community Centre facility deteriorating significantly over the last 10 years, which prompted further investigation by the city’s Health and Safety and the city’s Parks, Facilities, and Recreation departments earlier this year to assess the state of the facility in more detail.

Following an initial site visit for air quality and indoor mold testing, the city received Laboratory results indicating the presence of mold and mold spores in the facility.

Subsequently, a more comprehensive facility assessment was contracted, it identified a number of additional concerns regarding the structure and building envelope.

“With public safety our primary concern, council made the difficult decision to close the facility and is directing all efforts towards addressing the disruptions this will cause in the community,” said Mayor Nic Milligan. “With that in mind we will be working to engage with community partners to come together and look at options, and we very much appreciate the community champions who have already reached out to offer support.”

The city appreciates that this will cause significant disruption for facility users and event hosts who rely on this facility, and are dedicating resources to work directly with users to determine alternate arrangements at other facilities, while we explore longer-term options.

The Parks, Facilities, and Recreation department will be directly contacting all those with existing bookings or booking requests. Inquiries can be directed to [email protected]. Staff are connecting directly with affected parties on a priority basis.

e-KNOW file photo

City of Fernie

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