The second of four planned Barrhead Aquatic Centre information sessions was held at Summerdale Hall on Wednesday, September 23. It drew a crowd of more than eighty people from both town and county and was hosted by members of both councils.
“Town council made a decision in 2011 that this community needed to replace the existing aquatic facility, and this was after we had received some fairly dire news from engineers who had been studying the problem,” Barrhead Mayor Gerry St. Pierre said, and added that everyone involved has worked prudently and diligently over the past four years in planning the new facility.
“Obviously there are some residents who have voiced their concerns regarding this proposed facility and that’s why we are here to address these issues,” he said.
According to the mayor, the time to put the debate to rest once and for all has come.
“If everyone pays a fair share, we can definitely afford it,” he said, and added that while there is always a risk in doing something, doing nothing carries an even greater risk.
“We sincerely thank the County of Barrhead for their commitment of $5 million towards this project and we want to assure everyone that a ‘yes’ vote on the debenture borrowing bylaw on October 7th is the right decision for the future of our entire community,” St. Pierre said.
Reeve Bill Lee seconded the mayor’s comments and added that the county, too, feels that the pool is necessary and that it would be nice to have one again. “We had one before, and we are going to help the town out with its project to build a new one.”
Lee said the confusion about the county’s stance on the whole issue should be easy to understand, and pointed to the entirety of the debenture bylaw that is currently being advertised in the Barrhead Leader.
“If you read the agreement we signed with the town, you will see where we stand on this issue,” he said.
“We have been increasing our recreational funding for the town by five per cent every year and will continue to do that,” Lee said, and added that the new councils elected in 2017 will have to decide if they will continue with the practice or if they will find another way to get things done.
“For the past five years, the Barrhead and District Agrena Society have focused our efforts on a new aquatic centre for the town and the county,” Shannon Carlson, an Agrena Society board member, said. “The list of events that have complicated our efforts since is lengthly and remaining positive through it all has been our groups greatest challenge.”
In the end, Carlson said, he had to look at the society’s fundraising efforts to date.
“With the help of community service clubs, personal donations and fundraising events, we have managed to raise $270,000 and that doesn’t include another $80,000 acquired through gaming, for a total of $350,000,” he said. “All of this was raised without knowing whether or not a pool was actually going to be built, or even what it might include.”
To him, Carlson said, that is faith.
“There are people out there who want this pool and they believe we are heading in the right direction,” he said.
According to Carlson, should a ‘yes’ vote be accomplished, the Agrena Society is ready to present town and county businesses, as well as individuals, with donation packages that will give them the opportunity to show their support and in essence, give back to themselves.
“Since the old pool was closed, the number of people who go to Whitecourt, Westlock, Swan Hills, Mayerthorpe and Spruce Grove for swimming lessons, fitness and recreation has risen dramatically,” Carlson said, and added that time is precious. “When people are in these other towns, they take time to shop, eat and buy fuel. Making a living in business is tough enough without having our customers forced to shop elsewhere.”
Carlson admitted that taxes would go up when the pool project is built, as would operational costs.
“The purpose of the petition put forward that brought us to these sessions is to find a way to build a cheaper pool,” he said, and added that the design of the pool was developed through a combination of extensive research, popularity polls, discussions with user groups, town officials and the architect himself.
“Each component of this design is there because it will be used by a specific group,” Carlson said.
“Which group would you like to take the facility away from?” he asked the audience, and outlined all of the components and who would be affected by their removal.
“The extra lane for the main pool would allow the swim club to host sanctioned events, the zero entry leisure pool would allow people with disabilities access to the facility, making the hot-tubs smaller would remove wheelchair access, and the lazy river which besides being the biggest draw for recreational therapy, would also serve as exercise for seniors and might appeal to all ages.”
Carlson said that if one of those components were not removed, then another avenue to explore might be using cheaper components.
“Maintenance costs are a contentious issue for many people who are opposed to our design,” Carlson said, and added that cheaper components often require more maintenance. “In the end, what will we have saved? I don’t see anywhere, through all the costs of the facility, that it would drop more than ten per cent unless the components of the building were drastically cut.”
Carlson said the idea is to provide a facility that would not only look after all of the necessities, but would also draw people to the door and sustain the building itself for many years to come.
According to Carlson, the architect, Steve Bushnell, was chosen because of his vast experience with pools in this climate.
“The materials and mechanical components he uses are tried and true in the industry and he is comfortable with putting his name behind them,” Carlson said, and added that if people want to know what the price of cutting costs is and working with someone who does not have the same level of experience, one would only need to look towards Westlock.
“They actually had to remove the entire roof structure because of moisture problems, not to mention the electrical issues they’re facing now,” Carlson said.
Looking on the positive side of delays like this, Carlson said, it gives all parties a chance to ask more questions and to become better informed.
“It is also giving local contractors time to see if they can provide acceptable proposals to become involved in the project, and the architect is using this time to look at cost-saving,” he said.
“The key to having this project move forward in a manner that satisfies everyone is co-operation,” Carlson said, and added that both councils need to work together to make this project a flagship for Barrhead and the district for years to come.
