The City of Regina released its concept plan on Thursday for the new Maple Leaf Pool which features an L-shaped design.
While it’s intended to support all swimming levels, the plan follows community consultation held earlier this year and promotes features for the whole family regardless of age or disability.
“We’re quite confident that the new design we developed will meet some of the needs that our former pool wasn’t able to meet,” said Laurie Shalley, director of parks, recreation and culture.
“We heard from our youth that they wanted a deep end, so we will be able to provide a deep end with a diving board. We will also be able to provide an area that can be used for lane swimming.”
Shalley adds, there will also be a large medium depth area of the pool for games and a shallow end with a zero-depth or beach-type-entry.
In addition to the zero-depth entry, other accessibility features were also included in the plans.
“We’ve put a fairly significant effort into engaging the community of people with disabilities to understand their needs,” Shalley said.
“We will be providing a lift in an aquatic wheelchair that will be helping people with mobility challenges to get into the pool. We’ve also incorporated some accessibility features into the design for the change rooms space.”
The city will be releasing its tender package for construction later this year, hoping to have a contractor in place by early 2020 to allow for construction early in the new year.
The overall cost of the project is estimated at $4.5 million.
Once slated to be permanently closed, public outcry turned the tide for the pool with city council voting to replace the 72-year-old facility in the Heritage neighbourhood.
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