Swimmers in Fredericton are one step closer to diving into waters of a brand-new aquatics centre. Fredericton City Council recently selected to expand the Grant Harvey Centre to bring a new aquatics centre to the community. The project, which has been fully designed and costed, would include three separate tanks, a 25-metre training pool, as well as both a therapy and leisure pool. “It’s great to finally see a path forward,” says Fredericton Mayor Steve Hicks. “It’s been a long road, so to finally identify the site and we have the design, so we’re moving in the right direction and we’re all pretty excited about it.” The mayor says the Grant Harvey expansion was selected as the preferred option by council as it provided the most flexibility to different user groups. That includes competitive swimming groups, learn to swim programs, and other activities typically offered at an average aquatics centre. The project is estimated to cost $81 million. ‘It’s a large lift’ The Grant Harvey Centre currently offers the community two ice surfaces (one of which is Olympic-sized), a walking and running track, as well as various event spaces. Aquatics groups in the capital city have long hoped for a new pool to be built. The city currently has three pools: the Fredericton Indoor Pool, one at the YMCA of Fredericton, and the Sir Max Aitken Pool at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). The latter is the only facility with the depth and length required to host competitions for races, diving, and synchronized swimming events. The city recently announced $15 million for improvements to the Fredericton Indoor Pool and UNB’s pool, but both the city and aquatics groups understood the need for a new aquatic facility. “Whenever we do large capital projects, we look to the other levels of government, the provincial government and federal government, to contribute,” says the mayor when asked how the $81 million price tag would be paid. “We’ll be looking for service agreements with neighbouring communities, local partners, and we’re probably going to need to do some sort of community fundraising program as well like we did with the Performing Arts Centre. “It’s a large lift, and projects these days are extremely expensive, so you need to leverage all the funds you can.” Long-awaited news While there is still plenty of work to go before swimmers are enjoying a new pool, the fact council has made a decision on a future pool is seen as good news for Fredericton aquatics groups. Nathan White is a spokesperson for Fredericton Aquatics and is also the president of the Fredericton Aquanauts Swim Team. He says swimmers have been lobbying for a new pool for nearly 20 years and says this is the best news they have heard on a pool prospect in that time. “It’s not just about competitive sports,” says White when speaking of the benefits an aquatics centre can bring to a community. “It’s about health and fitness, healthy lifestyles, safety, teaching children to swim, teaching newcomers to swim. “There are so many benefits and there’s so many groups that are just out there trying to continue providing these benefits to the community, and we are feeling really, really squeezed. So, we’re looking forward to a new place where hopefully we can have a little bit of growth in the long term.” ‘We’re not in a perfect world’ White says given the state of the city’s pools, most notably the one at UNB, swimming groups have had no room to grow their programming. He is hopeful a new pool will help alleviate the pressure. When asked about the decision by the city to go for a 25-metre pool, and not an Olympic size 50-metre facility, White says, “We’re not in a perfect world.” Mayor Hicks says the decision to with the 25-metre option simply comes down to cost. The province only has one Olympic-sized pool, which is located at the Canada Games Aquatics Centre in Saint John. “There’s pools like that in Toronto and other communities, right down to Grand Prairie, Alberta, that are adaptable down to swimming lessons, seniors, aquacise fitness, all that stuff,” White says on the benefits of a 50-metre pool. “We would have loved to see something that increased the capacity. We’re getting something that’s going to barely replace the capacity of the Sir Max Aitken pool that may barely last until this project is open.” Fredericton native and 1996 Olympic silver medal swimmer Marianne Limpert is also excited for her home city to get a long-awaited new pool. “It’s long overdue,” says Limpert. “The UNB pool where I trained was already having some issues back when I was training there 30 years ago in 1996. The fact that it’s still operational is amazing, but there could be issues that could cause it to shut down at any time. “Obviously, I think another 50-metre pool would be ideal, but at this point getting another aquatic facility in Fredericton is definitely a bonus and I’m looking forward to seeing it progress.” For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
