Victoria residents voting on $168.9 million plan to replace pool
Feb. 8 referendum vote calls for a 'yes' or 'no' answer
Voters in Victoria, B.C., may decide the fate of the city's only public pool on Saturday.
Crystal Pool is more than 50 years old, and the city says it needs to be replaced.
It has come up with a plan to build a new, fully accessible pool and fitness centre — but it would need to borrow up to $168.9 million in order to do it.
In a referendum, voters can say "yes" or "no" to the city borrowing the money.
They can also say which of two locations they would prefer for the new pool.
The north option, which would be $6.7 million dollars cheaper, would require tearing down the old pool and building the new one in its place.
The south option would see the new pool built next door to the old pool, where a playground and sports courts currently stand.
Because of its age, the pool is getting harder to maintain.
"Many of its systems are beyond their useful life and it's getting more challenging to maintain the facility and to source replacement parts," said Derrick Newman, the director of parks, recreation and facilities with the City of Victoria.
Newman said the building's design also "leaves much to be desired."
It serves as a recreational facility, too — but the cardio equipment is on the pool deck, meaning people are working out in the humidity created by the pool.
The building also contains a lot of stairs and is not up to modern accessibility standards. The new facility would have more fitness and recreational space and be fully accessible.
To pay for it, the city would take $47 million dollars from its reserve funds and borrow the rest.
That could result in an average of $240 in property tax increases a year for 20 years — though some councillors have pointed out the cost difference could be made up in cuts to services instead.
It would be up to future councils to determine whether taxes are raised or services are cut in order to pay back the debt and replenish the reserve fund.
Victoria resident Karmen McNamara said it would be worth the cost to get the new pool built sooner rather than later.
"The most important thing to me is that we take an aging facility that's about to fall over and not function anymore and replace it with something that our community can continue to use for the next 50 years," said McNamara.
While no one can say for sure how much life the current pool has left, she doesn't want to risk having it become irreparable before its replacement is built.
Sean Kahill disagrees.
He's more concerned about the lasting debt and the possibility of cost overruns. He thinks the current plan is too extravagant for a city of just under 100,000 people.
"If we were to actually just plan a smaller pool, that would be so much easier. It would be so much simpler," said Kahill.
The proposed new pool would be 50 metres long, which is the same as the current pool. It would also have a leisure pool with 25-metre warm-up lanes, a shallow area, play features and a lazy river, as well as two hot pools, a steam room, and a sauna.
The current pool has two warm pools, a 160-foot water slide, a sauna, a steam room and a hot tub.
Next steps
If more voters vote "yes," the city can move to the design phase.
The location question is not binding, though council has said it will pay attention to what the voters say when it finalizes the plan.
If more voters choose "no," council would have to come up with a new plan for the pool's future.
More information about the plan and where to vote can be found on the city's website.
Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT.
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