Saint John council pushing regional commission to fund local aquatic centre during large

Saint John council pushing regional commission to fund local aquatic centre during large-scale renovations

A Canada Games Aquatic Centre request for $125,000 was rejected by the commission

Saint John council will be sending a letter to the region's service commission asking it to give the city’s aquatic centre transitional funding to be able to maintain its programming while the centre undergoes a lengthy renovation.

Councillors unanimously backed the proposal from Coun. Greg Norton at Monday night’s meeting.

The Canada Games Aquatic Centre, Norton said, sent the Fundy Region Service Commission a request for funding so that the centre could continue its programs — fitness, swimming, physiotherapy and other programming — in other facilities.

The transitional funding of $125,000 would, according to Norton’s motion, bridge the gap so some programs — specifically related to fitness — do not end up suspended while the aquatic centre undertakes large-scale renovations, expected to take 15 to 18 months, in preparation for the 2029 Canada Summer Games.

“What we have here is a decision or a recommendation by the commission to not support that transitional funding to see them temporarily relocate and continue operations,” Norton said, speaking on his proposal to council.

Norton said he hopes a letter will have the regional service commission give their decision to turn down the funding request a “sober second thought.” He called the facility an “anchor” in the city’s uptown.

“This is not simply about protecting jobs,” he said.

“We have a well-equipped, well-trained workforce that will simply be in layoff...Calling them back is going to be very, very difficult.”

The aquatic centre has a fitness centre above the pool area and a number of different projects, all of which would be impacted by the renovations, Norton’s motion says.

The renovations are intended to meet competition requirements for the 2029 Canada Summer Games, which will be dual hosted by Saint John and Moncton.

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Changes will include increased seating for more spectators, boosting capacity from 400 to 750, according to previous city statements.

Improvements to the pool, deck and change rooms along with a 20-metre warm up pool are also part of a roughly $25 million project that staff and councillors have called a “generational investment.”

Facility closing, not the organization

The aquatic centre website says the closure for renovations was originally planned for October but is now anticipated for December.The facility's general manager, Andrea Foster, said some programs will still be running when the facility closes, just at a scaled-down level.

Foster and Norton said the impacts would be to the centre’s fitness area as well as to the aquatic centre's massage and physiotherapy programs, because there wouldn ’t be a space to run these services.

But, Foster said, while the facility is closing for renovations the organization isn’t.

“Any kind of swimming lessons, any kind of swim to survive, we will take advantage of the schools that are available to us,” she said.

“We're still going to maintain beach contracts next summer…it's more the everyday fitness for our members.”

This, she said, would also lead to loss of staff. The Aquatic Centre has roughly 120 to 150 union and non-union employees.

“We have 15 full-time staff. We will reduce that by five in the scenario that we have to move forward with,’ she said.

Many council members, including the mayor, spoke of the value of recreation to the city.

“If the region is not supporting these facilities, these facilities might not exist anymore,” Coun. Brian Wyatt said.

“There's a lot of talk about dollars and cents and nickels and dimes and not a lot of talk about: What if the Canada Games Aquatic Centre doesn't exist anymore? What if the TD Station doesn't exist anymore? What if the Sea Dogs can't play in Saint John anymore?”

Mayor Donna Reardon said amenities like the aquatic centre are what contribute to growth.

“When [people look] for another place to live, they want to know: What do you have for amenities? What do you have for parks? What do you have for recreation?” Reardon said.

“What do you have for families? These are all of the things that build a city, build a community, build a region, and it's what attracts people to your region.”

Nipun Tiwari is a reporter assigned to community engagement and based in Saint John, New Brunswick. He can be reached at nipun.tiwari@cbc.ca.