After almost four years of planning, Barrhead Town council may have settled on a design for the community’s new aquatic centre.
Though the plan is still a conceptual draft, Mayor Gerry St. Pierre said he believes council has arrived on the right fit for the Barrhead community.
“We have discussed this for a long time. It has been a work in progress for the better part of four years,” said St. Pierre at the Town and County’s joint council meeting June 17. “There are some hurdles to overcome, but I think the time has come now to move forward.”
The $13.5 million concept features a six-lane 25-metre pool, zero-depth entry pool, hot tub, and a lazy river with vortex area. There will be more open houses with the design in the fall.
St. Pierre said they are 99 per cent committed to the location, which is the same location as the old pool. Originally the proposed site of the new aquatic centre was a five-acre parcel of raw land at the corner of 49 Street and 58 Avenue, across from the Petro-Canada gas station.
Although this is a step forward, St. Pierre said the project still faces some issues, financing being one of them.
Town residents were asked in a plebiscite last fall whether they supported their municipality borrowing up to $7 million for a $15 million pool, provided the County covered 50 per cent of the costs, to which they voted yes.
County residents on the other hand were asked if they were in favour of the County of Barrhead borrowing a maximum of $5 million dollars to contribute to the construction of a swimming pool. This plebiscite also resulted in a yes.
St. Pierre said because County residents were not given an alternative to the $5 million, he feels Town council has been put in a difficult position going forward.
“The Town had agreed that we will pay up to $7 million provided that the County matches it,” said St. Pierre. “Now by handcuffing your rate payers with up to $5 million, that has put the project in jeopardy.”
County council has said in the past the $5 million borrowing ceiling was set after talks with Municipal Affairs, the financial department and the auditor.
County coun. Doug Drozd said he doesn’t think there is any chance of the County contributing up to $7 million.
“The prudent thing would be for you to come down and meet us as partners at $5 million and see what contributions we can get from Woodlands County and from private contributors,” said Drozd. “Any more money coming in would send us back to our rate payers, and the answer would be a resounding no.”
Town Chief Administrative Officer Martin Taylor said the Town is now faced with making a decision on how much they will contribute towards the pool’s construction.
“[The Town’s] plebiscite said up to $7 million based on the County meeting 50 per cent. Five to seven, that’s not a split,” said Taylor. “We had hoped for a little bit more, but that’s the way it is.”
Another issue that still needs ironed out is operating costs.
Several councillors had the opportunity to tour Whitecourt’s aquatic centre during the monthly tri-council meeting June 16, where they had a chance to speak with the Mayor of Whitecourt, the Reeve of the County of Woodlands, and the Community Services Director.
Town coun. Ryan Warehime said he thought there were some interesting takeaways from the meeting, including engineers’ estimated operating costs of the conceptual pool.
Approximate operating costs are between $1 and $1.3 million. Warehime said he was told that a pool operating at a very good efficiency operates at 50 per cent.
In a worst case scenario of $1.3 million in annual operating costs, at 50 per cent there is a $650,000 in revenue. That leaves a $650,000 deficit the Town and County are going to be faced with paying.
“One way or another, we need to divide that up to $325,000 each,” said Warehime.
In 2013, Barrhead’s aquatic centre had a $552,000 operating cost, and a revenue of $193,000, leaving the centre with a deficit of $359,000. Barrhead County’s contribution to the operating cost of the swimming pool and Agrena was 17.7 per cent.
In a letter to the County, the Town has sought to have the County contribute 50 per cent annually towards the operating cost of the arena, aquatic centre, and summer programs.
“The Town of Barrhead cannot continue to subsidize County residents, whom are 55 per cent users of the recreation facilities,” said the Town’s letter. “Our Council is willing to cost share the operating costs of Misty Ridge in the spirit of cooperation.”
The County responded to the request saying they do not contribute towards the operating costs of the ski hill, or other groups and programs like community halls or the Minor Ball Program.
Although providing an increased level of support for operating costs of recreation facilities outside their jurisdiction would be difficult to justify, said the letter, Council would be interested in discussing contributing in a different way.
“As for your request, our Council would be more amicable towards paying a share of capital costs and/or building related costs such as utilities, building maintenance and repair, etc.” said the County’s letter.
The possibility of the County paying 50 per cent of the deficit in the form of costs such as utilities and chemicals is an option currently being considered by both councils.
“In the long term, operating is always a very expensive proposition. That’s what we’re still struggling with,” said Taylor. “We’re still working on an operating funding formula on how do we share the operating costs.”
Though there are still some obstacles to overcome, progress is being made. The Town plans to sign the formal agreement with the architect, BR2 Architecture, at their regular council meeting June 24.
Tender for the demolition of the current aquatic centre building is swiftly approaching, scheduled to be out in about one week. Taylor said the community can expect to see the old pool come down in late July or early August.
