TRURO - With many different sectors to the new civic centre, each one will experience a different opening date.
Jim Lambert, general manager of the Central Nova Scotia Civic Centre, said the first to open to the public will be the rink in November.
"We can open the ice in November, followed by the fitness centre on December 1 and the pool on the 7th," he said, a day after the Truro Daily News published a press release from the civic centre operations board chairman Nevin Jackson, which stated the opening day for membership would be Jan. 2, 2013.
"People can start using a portion of it in November, and I don't think it's fair for them to pay for memberships when they can't use everything in the facility."
Lambert said the month of December will be a ‘user pay' month, so area residents can pay to use the facility for even just a day.
"This way, they'll get to come try it out and get used to it and then buy a membership from there if they want."
Information on membership pricing and offerings will be available by the end of September.
"We're very close to having our pricing done. We're thinking about every person in the community who may want to use the facility so we're making sure everyone can get it. The community is losing two pools, so we're trying to accommodate that, and at the same time, make sure the facility remains accessible for all those people who want to use it.
"It's been a long, drawn out process but we have a draft ready to present to the board, hopefully next week," said Lambert.
A senior arena employee started this week, and Lambert said two more arena employees will be starting next week.
"The concrete has already been poured and we'll be laying ice the first week in October," he said.
That means the Truro junior A Bearcats hockey team will see its first home game in the new facility sometime in November.
"We're working very tightly with Stu (Rath, executive chairman for the Bearcats). We are getting things logistically figured out so we can be ready to go."
rtetanish@trurodaily.com
