Kitsilano residents cool on pool plan
Some locals object to possible loss of community centre, claim consultation fell short
A shiny, new $75-million destination pool is something most city residents would positively yearn for.
But not in Kitsilano, where some locals are decrying proposed plans for such a facility in Connaught Park on West 12th near Arbutus. For these residents, the problem is two-fold: not only has the city’s park board failed to adequately consult people about the idea, but to go ahead with construction would do irreparable harm to a key piece of the community.
Rebecca Lockhart is among many who have developed a strong affinity for the Kitsilano Community Centre. The well-appointed centre, located at the southwest corner of Connaught Park, boasts a fitness centre, ice rink, community garden, preschool and children’s water park, among other amenities.
By Lockhart’s read, all that could be lost or permanently altered if a big, brash sport training pool designed to attract a major influx of residents from across the city is built at the location.
Recent park board documents related to its proposed VanSplash aquatic services strategy — up for consideration by commissioners on Jan. 29 — are not clear on whether the community centre as a whole or in part would need to be overhauled to make way for the pool, but they do raise such a possibility. Either way, Lockhart believes it would fundamentally disrupt the cosy, community centre feel to the area.
Lockhart and others see VanSplash as having been driven by an undemocratic process.
“This is about more than pools. This is about people having a right to know when big changes are coming and about being given a say — a real say, a legitimate say — so that people in positions of power, like these park board commissioners, can make decisions in good conscience, knowing that they actually have an idea of what people think,” Lockhart said, adding that she would be OK with the idea if it was established that the plans served a greater good.
The park board held five open houses, six focus groups and a pair of online surveys as it developed the VanSplash strategy, according to a recent report to commissioners.
But Lockhart believes the consultations — particularly in the latter stages when a park board vision began to crystallize — were inadequate. She hoped commissioners would send the strategy back for further community input.
Park board staff declined to respond to questions about the VanSplash strategy in advance of next week’s meeting.
The strategy includes a 25-year vision and a 10-year implementation plan for the city’s aquatic services that includes a shift “away from a predominantly neighbourhood scale pool system” to one that features larger community and “destination scale” facilities.
The strategy has already spurred considerable community anger over the proposed closure of Lord Byng and Templeton Park pools.
Were the Connaught Park pool to proceed, it would take on sport training activities now offered at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. In turn, the Aquatic Centre would be renovated and given a “wellness focus,” according to a park board presentation.
Like Lockhart, Kitsilano resident Bill Wadsworth is not in favour of a shift to larger facilities.
“The whole purpose of these places is to exercise and unwind and try to burn off the stress of a day and the stress of the city,” Wadsworth said, adding that he considered large facilities like Hillcrest Aquatic Centre noisy, busy and “the opposite of relaxing.”
Wadsworth said he would like to see the matter put to a referendum.
“If it’s what people want, I will get in line and be all for it. But I don’t necessarily believe it is what the public wants.
“I just believe that there hasn’t been enough consultation with the public to really take a decision one way or the other,” he said.