Popular City Hall wading pool to get shallower

Water level will drop from 40 cm to 15 cm as part of $13M overhaul

The beloved City Hall wading pool will only be ankle-deep after it reopens in 2019.

“It will still have play potential for kids . ... But what I don’t know is if six inches (15 cm) of water is enough for that,” Coun. Scott McKeen, whose ward includes downtown, said Tuesday.

“Change is always annoying in something that successful,” added his colleague Coun. Ben Henderson.

City workers will still be able to flood the pool for winter skating, but because it is shallower and has a grey granite floor, to keep it from melting when it’s sunny, they will first will need to put down a layer of ice, then paint the ice white, and finally add more ice on top.

For the last 25 years, the City Hall wading pool has been a favourite with families and summer camps. The water is 40 cm deep, past most adults’ knees. It will drop to 15 cm in the new design, part of a $13-million overhaul for City Hall’s surroundings.

The arching fountains will remain, but the existing trees are being cut and replaced with saplings set further back from the chlorinated spray.

The project includes replacing the 25-year-old pre-cast concrete pavers that surround City Hall with grey and red granite stones. 102A Avenue will be resurfaced with concrete to make it level with Churchill Square and the plaza in front of City Hall, while still providing access for emergency vehicles.

The grass to the east of Churchill Square will be replaced with wood decking around the trees.

The project goes to tender in February or March. Construction is to start in April and the pool/ rink isn’t expected to re-open until April 2019, after LRT construction in Churchill Square ends and summer festivals can return.

City project manager Eugene Gyorfi said the changes are needed to make the pool safer and to comply with Alberta Health guidelines.

It was “driven by safety and security,” he said, suggesting city staff recorded thousands of incidents of children trying to jump off planters into the knee-deep pool.

“Only six inches is clearly meant as a wading opportunity. It preserves that iconic look of the fountain, but still provides an active play space for kids to come down and enjoy,” he said.

Less water will also be easier to filter, Gyorfi said. Alberta Health regulations require water in wading pools to circulate through a filter every two hours; the City Hall pool was only managing full turnover every 3.09 hours.

Henderson said he successfully lobbied to get repairs to the underground refrigeration pipes done, as well.

The pipes were installed to allow the city to freeze the skating rink early and keep it late into the spring, but the necessary refrigeration plant was cut from the budget 25 years ago. With the pipes fixed, it can be contemplated again.

Those sunny winter days are exactly when people want skate, Henderson said. But without refrigeration, “on the days where people are most likely to use the rink, we aren’t able to keep it open.”

He said he’ll investigate costs, hoping to get refrigeration included in the next capital budget.

Gyorfi said the current changes will also help with spring and fall use. Having granite on the floor means it can be used for events or displays without people feeling like they’re walking on the bottom of a pool. The new space will be wheelchair accessible.

This isn’t the first time the wading pool and fountain have been put into hibernation.

In 2001, the city made the controversial choice to temporarily cover the pool with a platform and turn it into an outdoor bistro during the World Championships in Athletics, held during peak pool season in August.

Critics blasted the city for taking the venue away from city kids and for covering one of Edmonton’s best features.

The topic even threatened to spill over into the 2001 civic election, with council members who supported the project ahead of time acknowledging it was a mistake.