After discussions dating back to 2011 and a referendum held last September, the design process for a new Athabasca swimming pool is moving forward and scheduled to be completed by December.
“It took so long because contract negotiations involving lawyers are never quick,” said Town of Athabasca chief administrative officer Josh Pyrcz. “There was (also) discussions about the way we wanted to proceed given that the structure was separate, and we chose the architect in part based on requirements from Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education.”
The initial plans for the project were developed based on the a new secondary school and the swimming pool being attached to the Athabasca Regional Multiplex. Since tThe Aspen View Public sschool board has since changed their designs to a campus style complex – due to the fact the school was too heavy to be attached to the Multiplex – , itwhich could have changed everything regarding the pool project.
“The discussions all along had been that it would be one attached project,” said Mayor Roger Morrill. “It certainly, to myself, came as a surprise (that it couldn’t).”
However, during a July 30 joint meeting, both the town and county councils decided to “stay the course” and sign the contract with Group 2, the bridging architects that had previously been selected.
“We determined that the architect we have has significant experience and is going to be able to take us through this process, and we feel that we've gotten the contract issues out of the way,” said Pyrcz. “As of today, the contract has been finalized with our architect and we'll be moving into the design phase of the project.”
“The path has become clear – it’s time to move forward and get this pool project done,” said Mayor Roger Morrill in a press release. “It’s now up to council members, residents and our community partners to help create this legacy project for our town and our region.”
There was a visioning session held between the councils and the architect earlier this year with both councils telling the architect firm what they really want in the new pool.
“We're looking at making sure we get more than what we have now,” said Pyrcz. “One thing I can definitely talk about is the importance of regulation size lanes for holding competitions. That's extremely important to both of the councils and to the community.”
The next step will be for the architects to complete a few designs and present them to the community and to the stakeholders – Friends of the Pool, the Athabasca Rotary Club and the Athabasca Rapids Swim Club – to get their input.
He Pyrcz continued, “It's now a matter of listening to the community and finding out what the stakeholders want, and that's going to be the real determining factor when we get a final design done as to what's going to be there.”
The hope is that this process is completed by December so that the councils can decide on their next move.
