Gov. Greg Abbott announced May 18 a slew of loosened restrictions that include new guidance for businesses, child care providers and more. Richardson staff spent the afternoon analyzing the governor’s latest order to determine how it squares with programs and events offered by the city.
Here is a breakdown of some of the biggest takeaways, presented at Monday’s City Council meeting by Deputy City Manager Don Magner.
Recreation centers reopening
Both of the city’s recreation centers, Heights and Huffhines, will reopen to residents on May 26. Non-resident passes are suspended until further notice, Magner said.
Both centers will be limited to 25% occupancy, which means only about 25-30 people will be allowed in each open part of the facility, Magner said. The city is asking that visitors limit their stay to 50 minutes at a time.
Locker rooms, classrooms, showers and other communal parts of the centers will remain closed. To help with sanitizing, staff from the Senior Center and other city facilities have been reassigned to the recreation centers.
Each center will remain closed two days per week to allow ample time for cleaning.
The Heights center will be closed Thursdays and Saturdays, while the Huffhines center will be closed Wednesdays and Sundays.
To make up for the time the centers were closed, all current memberships will be extended by 120 days, Magner said.
The city has also reopened the gymnastics center at 25% capacity. The Bush Central Barkway dog park will reopen May 19.
Event cancellations
State guidelines that limit gatherings to no more than 10 people have led the city to make the difficult decision to cancel the Family Fourth of July and Corporate Challenge events, Magner said.
“Enforcing social distancing would prove almost impossible,” Magner said of the Family Fourth celebration, which has historically attracted hundreds of people to Breckinridge Park.
City officials did look into alternative options, such as a drive-in fireworks event, but were stymied by logistical hurdles, such as traffic control and adequate parking, Magner said.
The 10-week, Olympic-style Corporate Challenge event has also been canceled due to the closure of several venues and limits from the state on the number of people who can participate in outdoor sports, Magner said.
“These events are incredibly unique and special to our community ... our staff mourns the canceling of these events,” he said.
Some programs and services still in limbo
The city has decided to forgo opening pools until the governor increases occupancy limits to 50%, Magner said.
The 25% capacity rule means most pools would be limited to 15 swimmers at a time, which would be difficult to enforce and more costly for the city, he said.
“By opening up a pool and operating it but telling a citizenry you’re only going to let 15 in at a time is going to be hard to manage,” he said.
Staff is currently working on hiring lifeguards and other staff, Magner said. However, if the state does not increase the capacity limit by June 1, the city will keep pools closed for the remainder of the year.
This is because the city needs at least one month to train and mobilize lifeguards and to prepare pools for use, Magner said.
“Some cities have already done that, some cities like us are trying to wait until the very last decision point to make that critical decision,” he said.
The city is also in the midst of hiring camp counselors and analyzing the governor’s guidelines to see how they influence summer camp offerings. However, Richardson will be forgoing the first week of camps in June, Magner said.
“We will be announcing a plan to open camps as soon as we have developed a plan that is compliant and sustainable,” Magner said.
