Thames Pool officially decommissioned by London, Ont. council in narrow vote

City councillors narrowly delivered the final death blow to Thames Pool by voting to decommission the popular swim spot.

The final vote, 8-7, means the long-standing swim location will be scrapped. In its place, other amenity options for Thames Park will be reviewed while a replacement location for the pool is sought.

The pool had initially been slated for decommissioning in the spring before groundswell support for the most popular outdoor pool in the city saved it momentarily while staff conducted a further review of repair options.

When the final reviews came back two weeks ago, staff informed councillors the pool had been further damaged, and the short-term repair costs had jumped considerably from between $300,000 and $600,000 to between $1.92 million and $2.23 million.

Deputy mayor Shawn Lewis said the increased costs and the concern over the repairs not lasting even a single winter prompted him to put decommissioning back on the table.

Lewis proposed at the community and protective services committee last week that instead of repairing the pool, staff conduct reviews and studies on building other amenities in Thames Park and finding a new location for an aquatic facility.

The deputy mayor included in his motion that swim passes and transportation for affected users continued to be provided while a pool is unavailable in the Old South area, with all the proposed ideas not costing more than $1.92 million, the projected cost of the cheaper repair option.

“I think we have to come to the realization that it’s time that we say goodbye to Thames Pool,” Lewis said Tuesday evening. “Let’s invest in the community in a responsible way with some immediate amenities and let’s start the ball rolling on a new location.”

Despite seven other councillors voting alongside Lewis, nobody else favouring the decommissioning spoke during the debate.

How the vote went

In favour of decommission:

• Deputy mayor Shawn Lewis
• Coun. David Ferreira
• Coun. Elizabeth Peloza
• Coun. Hadleigh McAlister
• Coun. Peter Cuddy
• Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen
• Coun. Steven Hillier
• Coun. Steve Lehman

Opposing decommission:

• Mayor Josh Morgan
• Coun. Anna Hopkins
• Coun. Corrine Rahman
• Coun. Jerry Pribil
• Coun. Skylar Franke
• Coun. Susan Stevenson
• Coun. Sam Trosow

Multiple councillors spoke against the decommissioning, including ward area Coun. Skylar Franke.

“I have heard a variety of different perspectives, but the one that still keeps coming back over and over is people would like us to repair the pool, so they can enjoy it for a couple more years,” Franke said.

On behalf of the Old South Community Association, Franke proposed the community raise the bulk of the funds necessary for the $2.23 million repair.

“Most people I’ve talked to have come around to the understanding that this is not a good long-term location for a pool, but still would like us to repair it so that they have something that is within a closer timeline to being open so that people who have kids now are ideally being able to use the pool,” Franke said.

However, even if the repairs were completed, fear of damage to the pool was too much for some.

Lewis prompted staff to state the threshold at Fanshawe Dam was only a couple of inches away from the limit during Rock the Park a couple of weekends ago. If the threshold had been met, staff say a park evacuation would have been ordered.

“We’re not even talking about spring floods with snow melts. We’re talking about late July extreme weather events,” Lewis said.

During the committee meeting last week, Jon-Paul McGonigle, director of recreation and sport for London, said it would likely be a four-to-six-year timeline for a new pool in a nearby location, with the understanding it would be a new budget item.