SEAPARC Recreation Centre is making major moves to become greener in an effort to meet the provincial government’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
“SEAPARC is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in buildings owned by the Capital Regional District, second to Panorama Recreation Centre,” said SEAPARC manager Melanie Alsdorf. “That puts us on the radar in terms of the CRD’s efforts to meet those GHG reduction targets (as required) by 2030.”
Alsdorf said facilities such as SEAPARC, which has a pool and an ice arena, significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
“The ice rink requires cooling, and we have a pool and hot tub that need heat to operate,” she said. “A very common-sense approach is to use excess heat from the arena to heat the pool.”
SEAPARC and the CRD are currently in the conceptual design phase for an expanded heat recovery system.
“The plan is to get that in place by 2026,” Alsdorf said. Looking ahead to 2028, we are replacing our oil-burning boiler with an electric one. The new chiller (for the ice rink) installed last year is also more efficient, so we’ll see a reduction in energy use there.”
On a smaller scale, SEAPARC is upgrading the software that manages its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning to see if energy can be saved that way.
SEAPARC has already embarked on other measures to reduce environmental impacts, such as converting most of the lighting in the facility to LED lighting, a process that began in 2016. There are plans to add two more charging stations for electric vehicles.
Although the current strategic plan expires in 2030, The SEAPARC Commission, which administers services at SEAPARC Recreation Centre and the western portion of the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, has directed staff to start a new one.
That will begin this year with a community engagement process to understand what SEAPARC members, stakeholders, and the public would like to see in terms of recreation, services, programs, and facilities.
Sooke Councillor Al Beddows, chair of the SEAPARC Commission board, said Sooke’s rapid population growth drives the decision to develop a new strategic plan.
“We’ll soon be bursting at the seams, so we need to consult with the community as to what they want to see in recreation, and how SEAPARC fits in with that,” Beddows said. He also praised the work and presentation by the CRD’s environmental specialists for environmental improvements at SEAPARC.
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