Park Board to proceed with smaller 25-metre pool for new Vancouver Aquatic Centre after all

Park Board staff repeat recommendation for smaller pool at new Vancouver Aquatic Centre

Big backlash over smaller pool plan for new Vancouver Aquatic Centre sparks petition

This is the proposed design of the new $170-million Vancouver Aquatic Centre

Wave of support? 50-metre pool at new Vancouver Aquatic Centre becomes by-election issue

ABC announces promise for new 50-metre pool in South Vancouver

During last night’s meeting, architect Ted Watson — a partner at MJMA Architecture & Design, the project’s design contractor in partnership with Acton Ostry Architects — explained that a modern 50-metre pool design simply does not fit within the site, without going outside of the facility’s existing footprint and risking delays and significantly added costs.

The existing facility, built in 1974, features a 50-metre pool. However, modern standards now call for an optimal length of 53 metres to accommodate flush gutters and two bulkheads, allowing the Olympic-sized pool to be divided for multiple programs for more flexible use. In addition, contemporary 50-metre pools typically include movable floors to support varying water depths for different uses.

Moreover, all 50-metre pools built in Metro Vancouver since the 1990s feature a tank that is 52 metres or 53 metres long for these design considerations, which do not exist for the current 50-metre tank at Vancouver Aquatic Centre.

To host training and competitions, there are also optimal pool deck width requirements, with a 6.1-metre-wide deck area recommended for either end of the pool, along with a four-metre-wide deck area along the sides. An example of an Olympic-sized pool with such deck clearances is the 2016-built UBC Aquatic Centre, which was jointly designed by MJMA and Acton Ostry. However, the minimum standard calls for a 3.5-metre-wide deck at each end of the pool — something the existing facility does not meet.

Furthermore, even if the leisure pool — with its lazy river and beach entry — were removed, it was determined that there would still not be enough space to fit a modern 50-metre lap pool within the existing footprint.

“The result is that we are unable to fit the entire program with the 50-metre basin within the existing footprint,” said Watson, highlighting that he has designed approximately 30 aquatic centres in his career spanning nearly three decades.

Possibly up to $100 million more for a 50-metre pool

During the deliberations, Green commissioner Tom Digby shared that some very preliminary cost estimates peg the inclusion of a 50-metre pool, achieved by expanding the facility’s westward into a treed area of Sunset Beach Park, could cost an additional $50 million to $100 million, including potential geotechnical and archeology work.

However, Park Board staff emphasized that they would need to perform some technical planning in order to better determine the costs of expanding the footprint. Over the past 18 months of work, they have only performed such analysis for a new facility with a 25-metre main tank.

The current estimated cost of the redevelopment — which includes a 25-metre, eight-lane lap pool, a diving pool, a hot pool, steam and sauna rooms, and a fitness gym — is $170 million. This already reflects a $30 million cost overrun, requiring an additional $9 million from the Park Board — of that, $7.6 million will come from redirected funding originally allocated to the West End Waterfront Parks, as approved during the meeting. The remaining $21 million is expected to come from the City of Vancouver, with City Council set to deliberate the funding request in the near future.

Another key issue is that $103 million of the project’s funding comes from borrowed money, approved by voters through a plebiscite question in the 2022 civic election. Both the Park Board and the City are legally obligated to award the project’s major construction contract and begin major construction activity by late 2026. Missing this deadline — such as due to delays from redesigning the project to accommodate a 50-metre pool — would require the question of the loan to return to voters in a new plebiscite in the 2026 civic election. This could, in turn, affect the timing of other planned plebiscite questions to support other capital projects, including funding for the replacement of Kitsilano Outdoor Pool, which is also in very poor condition.

If this late 2026 deadline is missed, the construction start date would be pushed to 2027 at the very earliest. However, this increases the associated risk of using the existing facility for a longer time, as it is not only seismically vulnerable but also in very poor condition. This replacement project was expedited and prioritized after the May 2022 incident when a part of the building exterior — near the main entrance into the facility — collapsed.

“The current pool in that time will continue to degrade. We don’t know when the next chunk of the building will fall off and the board will be told that we must close the pool for safety. We can’t risk the failure of an enclosure of another Vancouver asset with no replacement plan. Further, moving this huge sum of money into the next capital plan is going to push back other key projects,” said independent commissioner Laura Christensen during the meeting.

“I know there’s a community built around the current facility and many fond memories of it, but we need to make hard decisions so that we can deliver renewed facilities so the next generation has something instead of crumbling, abandoned buildings.”

During deliberations, some commissioners suggested that the ball is now in City Council’s court when it comes to potentially providing significant additional funding for a 50-metre pool at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre — while still meeting the legally mandated deadline of late 2026. However, the governing ABC Vancouver party appears to be moving towards a different 50-metre pool renewal strategy. Just last week, in reaction to Park Board staff’s recommendations, ABC announced a by-election platform promise to build a new 50-metre pool in South Vancouver.

As part of its decision, the commissioners also affirmed the Park Board’s commitment to eventually build a new additional 50-metre pool, and update the 2019 VanSplash Aquatic Facilities Strategy, given that the municipal government is now well behind the strategy’s goals and targets. As well, the update will include a provision for a 50-metre pool within the next 10 years.

Swim clubs and groups to be temporarily relocated to Hillcrest Centre’s 50-metre pool

The Park Board’s approach to redeveloping the Vancouver Aquatic Centre has sparked an outcry from major swim clubs, as well as clubs for masters swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming, and underwater hockey.

An online petition also quickly amassed over 15,000 signatures in support of a 50-metre pool.

Over two meeting nights — on February 25 and March 31 — commissioners heard from roughly 150 public speakers, including many young swimmers from local clubs who urged them to pursue a 50-metre pool.

“Listening to the children speak, it breaks my heart, knowing that they want this pool so much, but also listening to other children who want and need this pool to be begun as soon as possible, because if something God forbid happens at that facility, and that facility is closed for an indefinite amount of time, no one gets to swim,” said independent commissioner Scott Jensen.

Due to the limited availability of 50-metre pools in the city, these groups argue that this decision could force them to significantly scale back their programs and memberships — or even cease operations altogether. The existing facility sees limited use for competitions, but they are most concerned about the impacts on the capacity for training.

“This feels like an end of an era and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop it. As a commissioner, you know, I try to make my community’s voice heard. I’ve done what I can and I’m very sorry that I feel like I’ve not been able to be able to save that 50-metre pool. And I know how much it means to the community. I know how important it is, a life skill to learn how to swim,” said independent commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky.

“It saved my own life. It saved the lives of people that are close to me. And I know that, you know, having an aquatic centre gives structure to young athletes, keeps them out of trouble. It teaches them discipline. It teaches them the importance of winning and losing. And the leisure pool just doesn’t give you that.”

In response, during the meeting, the commissioners directed their staff to look into the feasibility of building a temporary pool tank to potentially accommodate the displaced clubs and other swimmers.

Over the short- to medium-term, until additional 50-metre pools are built, staff assert that displaced swim clubs can be accommodated at Hillcrest Centre — which will become the city’s only aquatic facility with a 50-metre pool once the existing Vancouver Aquatic Centre is demolished for redevelopment. With last night’s decision, this pool closure timing is now expected for sometime in 2026.

This accommodation would be achieved by relocating programs and schedules that currently use Hillcrest Centre’s bulkhead configuration — two 25-metre swimming areas — to other aquatic centres that have not reached capacity, allowing the full 50-metre configuration to be used far more often to take in the displaced clubs. At present, although this is a very busy aquatic centre, Hillcrest Centre’s main tank operates in its 50-metre configuration just under 10 per cent of the time, but this would increase to at least 60 per cent to help mitigate the impacts on the clubs. This includes the possibility of relocating family swim and public swim periods to other facilities.

“My children themselves were in swim clubs at this pool [at Vancouver Aquatic Centre]. So I’m very familiar with this pool. I wish the transition for the clubs was a little bit smoother. I understand that Hillcrest might be an ideal place, which has a 50-metre pool, but maybe the growing pains of transitioning to a different pool might be hurtful,” said ABC commissioner Angela Haer.

If all goes according to plan — including City Council’s upcoming funding deliberations — the new Vancouver Aquatic Centre, featuring a 25-metre main tank, is expected to be completed and open by late 2029.

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