Officials from the University of New Brunswick and the City of Fredericton say they are still looking at the idea of partnering on a new aquatic facility to replace the Sir Max Aitken pool that will be decommissioned in 2018.
Fredericton Aquanauts Swim Team president Leyla Lougheed said she’s feeling a renewed sense of optimism hearing that the city and university are discussing options.
READ MORE: UNB Fredericton’s Sir Max Aitken Pool, Lady Beaverbrook Gym to close in 2018
The swim team and other pool user groups held a rally at city hall Tuesday to show their support for a new facility and highlight the need to work together to make a new pool a priority.
“The momentum has ramped-up if you want to call it that, but what’s going on in behind the scenes, what kinds of conversations are going on behind the scenes we don’t know. That’s something that is still away from our knowledge but we know it’s positive,” Lougheed said.
READ MORE: New Brunswick mother concerned over UNB pool closure
She said they are “more hopeful” now that they know the university is looking at potential options.
University of New Brunswick vice-president academic George MacLean said they are continuing to have conversations with the city.
- Alberta to overhaul municipal rules to include sweeping new powers, municipal political parties
- Grocery code: How Ottawa has tried to get Loblaw, Walmart on board
- Military judges don’t have divided loyalties, Canada’s top court rules
- Norad looking to NATO to help detect threats over the Arctic, chief says
“We’ve been having constant conversations for over a year now,” MacLean said. “More recently, we’ve been talking about different design proposals at a very high level, so the city has requested that the university put forward some different ideas — again high-level ideas about what different configurations might look like for a new aquatic centre.”
READ MORE: Fredericton swim club continues plea for new pool, highlights importance of programs
MacLean said they’re looking at the space on the east side of the Richard J. Currie Centre and at what anticipated operation costs would be.
“What’s different now is that I think that the user groups have been made aware that we’re at a stage now where we’re sharing ideas on a high level on what a facility might look like,” MacLean said.
In a statement sent to Global News on behalf of Fredericton Mayor Mike O’Brien, he said discuss have been ongoing with UNB for several years, but said talks are “re-energized” and will continue.
“However, that is one step in a much larger process that must eventually include the province and federal governments, and how the regional communities will contribute,” O’Brien said.
He said council also wishes to express gratitude to the pool user groups for Tuesday’s positive march, and for their “passionate encouragement for all parties to continue working towards a solution.”
Government of New Brunswick spokesperson Bruce MacFarlane told Global News the province is aware of the pool issue and has received some correspondence, but said no formal application has been received.
MacLean said he anticipates there would likely need to be collaboration with the provincial and federal governments, but said it’s something they’d like to partner with the city on.
“We would like to move with the city on that. We feel that it’s probably better for us to work in tandem on potential asks of the other levels of government so we would need to have something of an agreement in principle between the university and the city before we went to the province or the federal government,” MacLean said.
He said user groups should “stay tuned” as talks continue.
Comments