Moncton's east end pool will be deeper — for $62,000

Moncton city council approved adding a 1.5-metre deep end to the new east end outdoor pool at a cost of about $62,000. 

The change to the design was approved by an 8-1 vote at a special council meeting Thursday afternoon. 

The last-minute change in plans caps a week of confusion and recrimination about how the $2.3-million pool was approved last month without multiple councillors and supporters of the project knowing it would only be one metre deep. 

The long-sought pool replaces one near the Moncton East Youth Centre that closed in 2013 that had a deep end of a similar depth. 

Catherine Dallaire, the city's general manager of recreation, culture and events, said staff determined the plans could be amended and the pool open as planned next summer after consulting with the contractor and engineers. 

"We're really pleased with the changes we're presenting to council today," said Jocelyn Cohoon, Moncton's director of leisure services. 

Coun. Paul Pellerin, who moved a motion at a committee meeting Monday for city staff to revisit the plans, voted against the change. 

Couns. Blair Lawrence and Paulette Thériault were absent. 

Pellerin said he felt that council needed more details and refined plans. 

"The new modified engineering drawings — which were all hand drawn — if you looked at it, was very confusing," Pellerin said. "It never gave me the warm and cushy feeling that this was done properly."

Moncton council approved awarding a construction tender for the east end pool at a July 16 meeting. Demolition of the old pool was underway when council asked city staff to revisit the plans.

The confusion last week over the depth of the new pool appeared to be the result of a number of factors, according to interviews with city staff and councillors. 

Several city councillors believed the new pool would simply be a newer version of the one it was set to replace —- though built on piles to counter problematic soil conditions and with improvements to resist damage from flooding. 

Much of the discussion about the pool has focused on the growing cost of the pool and whether it should be built in the location southeast of Fergus Street. The pool is in a flood plain. 

Councillors were provided engineering drawings in February but say they missed the aspect that referred to the depth of the pool. The depth, councillors say, was never explicitly explained by city staff. 

Meanwhile, Dallaire said earlier this week that pool design standards have changed and it was never the city's intent to rebuild a pool like the one it replaced.