YMCA in SLO approved to run 24 hours a day. Here’s how it will work

The YMCA in San Luis Obispo County recently got approval for a conditional use permit to operate certain gym facilities on a 24-hour schedule, with key fobs providing limited access to the gym.

On May 13, executive director Douglas Trawick presented to the SLO Planning Commission a plan that had been in conversations for over a year — open up the San Luis Obispo gym and fitness center to give residents with nontraditional schedules more opportunities to work out.

“The most important thing for us is providing access to our community for more people more often, and for nontraditional working adults that work overnight shifts or prioritize taking care of family during the evening hours, those sorts of things,” Trawick told The Tribune.

Trawick calls the YMCA “a place for all,” and said the push for a 24-hour model will expand the facility’s access to a “healthy living lifestyle.”

“It really just continues to push us forward to fostering an environment for everybody where everybody belongs,” he said.

The application process for the conditional use permit was the longest part of the process for the nonprofit, Trawick said. Now that the SLO Planning Commission has approved the permit, the nonprofit can begin creating the infrastructure to host residents at all times of the day and night.

Key fobs will be used during the nontraditional hours once the 24-hour cycle is set up, since the YMCA at 1020 Southwood Drive will be unstaffed during the overnight hours, Trawick said.

Locked gates will also be installed between the weight room and main fitness area, as heavy barbells pose a safety risk, according to Trawick. Only the lobby, bathrooms, main fitness area and fitness and cardio room will be open during the non-staffed hours. The rest of the areas will be closed outside of the facility’s traditional 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours.

“It’s because the 24-hour model is an unstaffed model, so during non-operational hours, there’s not going to be any staff present,” Trawick said. “There’s a lot of safety security structures that we have to put in place.”

Trawick said the YMCA’s goal is to complete all preparations by the end of this year and be fully operational at a 24-hour cycle by then.

The SLO County’s YMCA is not the first nonprofit to try out being open 24 hours a day.

It is a part of the larger Channel Islands’ YMCA, whose branches in Camarillo and Santa Ynez have already adopted the 24-hour cycle, in 2023 and 2025, respectively.

“It’s been something that we’ve been observing and just modeling how we can move forward as SLO County implements,” Trawick said. “It really just comes down to, we want more of SLO County to have access to our Y community, and that’s part of what a 24-hour Y is going to enable.”

For more information about the future 24-hour cycle of SLO County’s YMCA, visit its website at ciymca.org.