Park board votes to request 50-metre pool at Vancouver Aquatic Centre
Amended motion came after dozens of people spoke out against a redesign plan that would cut the pool in half
A majority of Vancouver Park Board commissioners voted Tuesday to maintain a 50-metre lap pool at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre as part of a long-proposed renewal plan for the aging facility.
The plan approved Tuesday is a significant departure from park board staff's $170-million proposal to replace the pool with a 25-metre one and add a leisure pool and other recreational amenities at the West End facility.
That design was proposed by staff who argued the aging 50-metre pool was no longer viable as it failed to meet modern seismic and accessibility standards — and that building a new one of the same size along with other planned amenities would require considerably more funding.
Now, however, a majority of commissioners have largely shot down the staff plan and asked that a 50-metre pool be included in the revitalized centre's design — with staff expected to report back in a month on whether the project is viable.
The change in direction came after nearly 70 people spoke before the park board over two days and expressed opposition to the 25-metre pool idea, saying the plan would limit competitive swimming opportunities.
"I don't think it's a very good thing for Vancouver as a whole, especially given the central location of the [aquatic centre] being in the downtown region," said water polo player Mathew Ho on Monday night. "By shrinking it, it's going to be disruptive."
The current 50-metre pool is one of only a few Olympic-sized facilities in the city.
Three out of five park board commissioners in attendance Tuesday voted to remove a proposed leisure pool from the plan entirely and move it to a separate renewal project, and to instead include a 50-metre pool with modern accessibility standards in the redesign.
"It's the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, it's not the Vancouver Leisure Centre, you know?" said commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky. "The people associate it with various types of physical activity."
The aging Vancouver Aquatic Centre made headlines in March 2022 after a large piece of the facade of the building fell off overnight.
In the 2022 municipal election, voters supported the renewal of the aquatic centre in a plebiscite, with the vote requiring construction to commence by the end of 2026.
$30M over budget
But the two commissioners who voted against the amended plan — Scott Jensen and Tom Digby — argued that upping the costs at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre could risk funding for other pools falling by the wayside.
Digby told Gloria Macarenko, the host of CBC's On The Coast, that the $170-million pool renewal project is already $30 million over budget.
"We are squeezing the entire park board system to fund the extra $30 million," he said before the vote.
"And now if we wanted to do a 50-metre pool and have everything, we'd have to find up to $100 million on top of that."
Digby said that the staff plan for a 25-metre pool would also have simultaneously increased the time at which Hillcrest pool, in Queen Elizabeth Park, is operated in a 50-metre configuration — with the commissioner arguing that could serve competitive swimming groups instead.
"We have to look at all the pools in the city, and this kills the capital plan," Digby told his fellow commissioners at the meeting Tuesday.
"The shovels in the ground, we will not get it done. You were all elected to get this job done. You're killing it right here right now."
The proposed 50-metre pool facility will be up for a vote again in a month after staff report back on whether it is possible under current funding restraints.
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With files from Nav Rahi, On The Coast and Shaurya Kshatri