Joe's Gym wants to expand

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Gary Marchuk appeared before Pincher Creek Town Council on Monday, March 26 on behalf of Joe's Weight Training and Gym to ask for permission to expand the facility, which is located in the basement of the same building that houses the Golf Course Clubhouse, Chinook Lanes, and the Squash Courts.

"Once again we've grown," said Marchuk. "Our membership is up. 25 years ago at the start we used just a little piece of that basement underneath the Golf Club.  As our membership grew we took over more and more of the basement space, to where we've used it all with the exception of a small office space that's been empty and used for storage for the past 25 years by the Golf Club."


"What we're asking for is, we could really use that space," Marchuk continued,  "because our cardio room equipment is so close together it's becoming a danger.  There's no room to walk between the equipment and we're worried about people getting hurt."

"So, we'd like to have the use of that space for the next 25 or 30 years, and then you can have it back," he jested.

Marchuk indicated that the gym would be willing to pay more rent for the space. He said the wall that would have to be removed for the renovation was not a load-bearing wall. "We have the funds set aside to do that (remove it)," he said.

Marchuk said the Golf Course wanted to keep the space to offer to the new restaurant owners as an office. "There's been a restaurant there forever, and they've never had an office. I really don't think they need one.  They have a huge smoking area that they could probably portion off part of if they wanted to."

Councillor Wayne Oliver asked how large the space in question was.  "It's only 144 square feet," said Marchuk.

"I noticed it's pretty tight when you're on the rowing machine you're almost elbows with the rower next to you," said Oliver, who uses the facility.