Pool referendum pushed back

A referendum to fund a new community pool in Summerland has been pushed back to at least the fall.

The vote is required for council to gain the public assent required to borrow money for the facility, the cost of which was pegged at $49 million as of November – up 30% from a year earlier.

Officials had long been targeting this spring for the referendum, but with two major grant applications still outstanding that could dramatically alter the economics of the project, council voted unanimously Monday to hold off on the vote until word is back from senior governments. That also pushed back a possible referendum to the fourth quarter of 2023.

To date, the district has applied for just one $6-million grant for the project from a provincial program and is in the process of applying for an even larger, though unspecified, amount from a federal program.

The provincial application was submitted in June 2022 and an answer expected back by now, district staff are now expecting the results in the spring.

“We really need to know about that $6 million in order to prepare a proper financial plan for council and ultimately the referendum question,” said Lori Mullen, the district’s director of community services.

The federal grant that’s being eyed is open to projects that that will be netzero when they open, meaning they produce as much energy as they use, or are net-zero ready when they open, meaning they’re set up for energy selfsufficiency but still require a renewable energy system.

However, initial designs for the pool didn’t contemplate meeting that standard and rough estimates suggest doing so could add $10 million to the bill.

More precise figures are being calculated now by a quantity surveying firm and should be presented to council next month.

Those same consultants estimate the overall project cost will increase by about $613,000 every three months the project is delayed.

Mullin told council she’s not aware of any other existing grant programs for which the project might qualify.

Elsewhere in her report, Mullin answered a separate request from council for details of other costs related to the project but not included in the price estimate.

The costliest items on the list are demolition of the existing pool at $1.5 million, followed by $450,000 to tie in the new facility to the Summerland Arena and $83,000 in development cost charges.

Other costs that weren’t firmly estimated range from financing and construction insurance to utility upgrades and parking upgrades.