Members of the Silver Dolphins Swim Club in Fredericton say they’re concerned about what they’ll do once the Sir Max Aitken pool closes in 2018.
Gary Arsenault is a member of the Silver Dolphins and said access to a pool is crucial for seniors who can’t do other higher impact physical activities.
Arsenault was one of more than a dozen members who attended the City of Fredericton’s Community Services committee meeting Thursday, asking council to take the lead on bringing together stakeholders to find an interim and long-term solution.
READ MORE: UNB Fredericton’s Sir Max Aitken Pool, Lady Beaverbrook Gym to close in 2018
“I think we did explain how beneficial aquatic exercise is to seniors and that we have to maintain a pool of some sort in order to get us to a new pool,” Arsenault said following the meeting. “We understand a new pool is on the horizon but it’s still two to five years away, so we need a bridging solution to get us there.”
While the city has already agreed to help find a solution, Arsenault said he wants council to take it one step further and be the “gelling force” to get all the users groups and other levels of government together to come up with a plan.
READ MORE: New Brunswick mother concerned over UNB pool closure
The city has said all along, since the official decommissioning of the pool was announced, that there needs to be collaboration between all levels of government, and said regional collaboration is needed. They have also maintained that their main priority remains a new performing arts centre.
Arsenault said he started swimming after he retired and said the swim club has more than 80 members who swim three times a week.
He said he’d like to see the current pool at the University of New Brunswick campus stay open past the closing date in the fall of 2018.
READ MORE: Fredericton swim club continues plea for new pool, highlights importance of programs
“We’ve talked to several levels of government and we’ll be talking to UNB as well, in hopes of getting this resolved,” Arsenault said.
Swim Club president Pat Waugh said she is awaiting two knee replacements and uses the pool frequently. She said her husband also uses it for rehabilitation for a health issue he had. Waugh said she agrees with Arsenault and would like to see someone “head it all up”.
READ MORE: N.B. mayor says ‘take the politics out of pool’ as closure of Fredericton pool nears
Committee chair councillor Steven Hicks told reporters Thursday he sympathizes with pool user groups and said the city is working to accommodate groups at other facilities until a long-term solution can be reached, but said not everyone will likely get the same time slots they currently have.
Hicks said no other partners have come forward to help fund the pool.
“We know we’re going to be a major partner, that’s a given, but we need other people on board. This is a huge project. You’re talking $40 million to $50 million for what the community wants and a community of 60,000 people just can’t afford that anymore,” Hicks said.
The city said the UNB varsity team also put in a request for pool space Thursday, as well as a formal request from the Silver Dolphins.
In an e-mail statement, University of New Brunswick director of communications Sonya Gilks said the Lady Beaverbrook gym where the pool is housed no longer meets the requirements of the Faculty of Kinesiology and said it would cost $8 million to bring its maintenance up to date.
“Even with that level of investment, it would remain energy-inefficient and non-accessible. It costs us in the order of $400,000 and $500,000 in upkeep and maintenance just to keep the building running annually. This is in addition to the operational costs that one would expect with the building,” Gilks said.
She said the decision to close the pool was not taken lightly and said they realize the closure will have a significant impact on recreation and competitive programs in the capital city.
“For nearly a century, UNB has provided an aquatics facility for our community — first with the Lady Beaverbrook Residence Pool and now the Sir Max Aitken Pool in the Lady Beaverbrook Gym,” Gilks said. “With more than half our current pool users being community members, we have a strong desire to keep a pool on our Fredericton campus, but we need help.”
Hicks encouraged Arsenault and other swimmers to reach out to their MLAs.