Vancouver’s beleaguered Kitsilano Pool will open for a shortened summer season on Wednesday.
Mayor Ken Sim and Park Board Chair Brenna Bastyovansky are scheduled to hold an event to mark the outdoor seaside pool’s reopening at 8 a.m.
The five-decade-old pool has faced a multitude of problems since it suffered major damage during a January 2022 storm.
In June, the city said the pool would stay closed for summer, and was leaking 30,000 litres of water per hour, making it impossible to balance chemicals and make it safe to swim in.
Following a public outcry, Sim said he’d called in mining CEO and engineer Jeff Stibbard who provided a “second set of eyes” that allowed city crews to chart a path to reopening the pool by early August.
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It remains unclear what that independent analysis revealed that would allow for interim repairs to reopen the pool that the city wasn’t able to identify in June.
The city earmarked $5 million for the pool, with $3 million going to short-term repairs and $2 million for planning work on a replacement pool. The city has said it’s also looking into corporate sponsorship to help cover the cost of replacing the facility.
This isn’t the first time the city opened the pool for an abbreviated summer season.
In 2022, the year it suffered storm damage, city officials said they expected it to be closed for the summer. In late June, however, the city said it had determined cracks in the pool could be sealed and that it would be able to reopen for the August long weekend.
The pool attracts more than 120,000 visitors a year, and at 137 metres in length is Canada’s longest outdoor pool.
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