Barrhead County Council’s swimming pool plebiscite has been fixed for Monday, March 24.
County residents that day will be able to vote on the municipality’s financial commitment to a new aquatic centre for Barrhead.
They will be asked: “Are you in favour of the County of Barrhead No. 11 borrowing a maximum of $5 million dollars for the purpose of providing a maximum $5 million dollar contribution to the Town of Barrhead for the Town’s construction of a swimming pool?”
Last Tuesday, County councillors decided on the plebiscite day. They also agreed that an advance vote be held. Details have yet to be released, but it will probably be held a few days before the plebiscite.
In addition, the council approved three public information meetings leading up to the vote.
The planned locations are: March 6, Lac La Nonne/Dunstable area; March 10, Summerdale Hall; and March 14, Neerlandia area/Mellowdale.
The voting stations are expected to be at the County office, Neerlandia, Tiger Lily and Dunstable.
It was last month the County agreed it would contribute up to $5 million to a new aquatic centre.
Reeve Bill Lee said the amount represented a third of the County’s borrowing capacity and was agreed on following talks with Municipal Affairs, the financial department and the auditor.
“$5 million is the number we came up with,” he said. “It is the maximum we can put into the project while exercising financial prudence.”
Lee pointed out that the County had not borrowed money in this way since the Neerlandia water project in 1981.
At the Oct. 21, 2013 municipal election, Town residents voted in a pool plebiscite.
The question put to them was: Subject to fundraising $1,000,000 from other sources, do you support the Town of Barrhead borrowing up to $7,000,000 to finance the $15,000,000 new aquatic centre, with the understanding that it will result in an estimated tax increase of $95 for every $100,000 in property assessed value and the project will not proceed unless the County of Barrhead supports the project at 50 per cent of the costs?
Nine hundred and thirty-four voted “yes,” 625 voted “no.”
The aquatic centre project took off in January, 2013, when Barrhead Town Council announced the proposed site of the pool: a five-acre parcel of raw land at the corner of 49 Street and 58 Avenue, across from the Petro-Canada gas station.
Edmonton-based Barr Ryder has put forward three pre-design concepts, each one featuring a six-lane 25-metre pool, zero depth entry pool, a 24-person whirlpool and a current channel similar to a lazy river. Their projected costs are $17,250,000, $14,689,000 and $14,648,000.
The Barrhead &District Agrena Society has raised more than $100,000 for the project.
