UNB pool closure revives idea for Olympic-sized replacement

The planned closure of the Sir Max Aitken Pool at the University of New Brunswick has distressed many in the swimming community.

But for Joseph Culp, the pool's closure could also bring stakeholders back to the table and possibly revive a proposed indoor competitive and recreational swimming facility with an Olympic-sized, 50-metre swimming pool.

"I think this could be a really good story for the city of Fredericton in terms of building an aquatic centre that attracts people to the city," Culp, chair of the Capital Region Aquatics Facility Team (CRAFT), said Tuesday on Information Morning Fredericton.

Last week, UNB announced it was planning to build a $36-million Centre for Healthy Living and close the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium and the swimming pool by 2018. A swimming pool isn't planned for the new centre.

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Culp's group lobbied the city for a new aquatic facility for about two years and made a presentation to council to provide input for a needs assessment about six years ago.

Culp said the cost of the pool wasn't determined, but a comparable facility in Nanaimo, B.C., built in the early 2000s cost $10 million to $15 million.

He said he was shocked when he heard UNB's pool is slated for closure because he thought the group's lobbying efforts pointed out the need for a swimming facility.

Culp realizes the city has competing needs, but argues an indoor facility for competition as well as families and recreational users would be good for the region.

But, based on the group's previous analysis of the time it would take to plan, tender and build a new facility, Culp said he doesn't think the project could be completed by 2018 when the Sir Max Aitken Pool closes.

"It's two or three years, I suspect," he said.

"So, that would be tight to get it done in time."