Halifax seeks public input on singular membership for recreational facilities

The Halifax Regional Municipality is exploring the idea of creating one membership to cover all of its recreational facilities – but it’s seeking public input on the idea first.

The idea has been years in the making, says Sam Austin, the councillor for Dartmouth Centre, which includes the Zatzman Sportsplex.

“It could be as simple as, ‘Hey, I work in downtown Halifax and want to use Centennial Pool during the day, during my work day, but then I’m living out in Cole Harbour and on the days I’m working from home, or on the weekends, I want to use Cole Harbour Place,” he told CTV News on Sunday.

A public survey is now live on the municipality’s website and one of the questions asked is if people would be willing to pay additional membership fees to have access to multiple municipal recreation facilities.

While affordable recreation has been a priority for the municipality, Austin says a cost increase isn’t guaranteed.

“Maybe, maybe not,” he says. “If you have one access membership, we can do things more easily, like target supports to folks who really need it.”

On the flip side, he says an idea like this has the potential to make memberships more appealing and drive-up demand, “which then puts more money into the municipal coffers and takes pressure off the existing folks.”

Austin points to success in the private sector, like what GoodLife Fitness has done, for example, offering tiered memberships, including one that only allows access to a ‘home club,’ while others offer access to all facilities.

But another alternative that could arise from discussions could be to simply offer discounts to people who purchase a second membership at a different venue.

“My hope is that we can look at this and find a way to provide better access to all the residents that these facilities are actually for; that’s really what it’s all about,” he says.

“You could do nothing; you could have discounted access; you can have just one HRM membership to rule them all, so to speak.”

Or it could be anything in between.

The survey closes at the end of June. There will then be a “data analysis” period from July to September, before a report is brought back to council no later than next February.

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