The B.C. Court of Appeal has halted the demolition of the aging Vancouver Aquatic Centre until after the municipal election, which will give the newly chosen park board a chance to weigh in on the pool. The injunction until Nov. 3—the day after the first scheduled meeting of the Vancouver Park Board—comes after a legal challenge from Protecting our Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society and park board candidate John Girard. “The court finally ruled in our favour, and we received the stay of demolition,” Girard said. The heart of the dispute is the size of the replacement pool. The existing one is 50 metres, but the park board approved a plan to build a new one half that size. Critics say a 25-metre pool falls short of what they expected when they approved borrowing money for the project in a 2022 plebiscite, which currently has a budget of $175 million. “This decision gives Vancouver voters the chance to vote for park board commissioners who will then have the opportunity to turn around the decision about the aquatic centre,” TEAM mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick told CTV News. The Vancouver Liberals also support a 50-metre pool at the site, mayoral candidate Kareem Allam saying the court made the right decision to halt the demolition, which was scheduled for this month. Ken Sim’s ABC party says it’s committed to rebuilding the facility with a 50-metre pool, while keeping the project on budget and on time—even though the smaller pool was approved under that administration. The Greens say there’s not enough land for a modern, 50-metre pool at the site. “Any longer delay is going to seriously impact development of swimming pools over the next four years in Vancouver,” park board candidate Tom Digby told CTV News. OneCity also wants more pools in the city, and agrees that Vancouver can’t afford to lose more time. “We need shovels in the ground so that we can get people in the pools,” council candidate Jarrett Hagglund said. The court has not ruled that the existing building must be saved, only that demolition must pause for now. The new elected park board will face the decision on what comes next.
