The City of Victoria will build the replacement for Crystal Pool on the existing site with an expected opening date of 2030.
After years of discussion, site changes and a referendum, Victoria plans to build a new $209.2-million facility where the original stands today. Council opted for the north site after wading into options during its March 13 meeting.
“It’s about time,” said Mayor Marianne Alto, noting she’s been around for the years-along conversation.
“Had a previous council – in which I was part – in the majority had a little more courage, we would all be swimming in a pool by now.”
While not a binding decision, those who voted in the recent referendum that approved the project also primarily supported the chosen site with 60.57 per cent in favour of putting the new pool in Central Park north over south. Several at the table cited those numbers, and in-person feedback, supporting the site.
“Given the, I think, love that people have for Crystal Pool and its facilities despite the fact that it has been kept together with Band-Aids and gum for the last few years, it speaks to the fact that it’s important to the city and to the residents of the city to have a facility like this,” Alto said.
While adjacent park amenities, including the popular basketball courts, will remain useable during much of the work, the pool itself will close.
With that service interruption in mind, Coun. Jeremy Caradonna put forward ideas, some of which he readily admitted staff may already be doing to help mitigate those impacts.
“While the north option builds the most consensus in the community, it does mean that Victoria will eventually need to go without a public pool for a few years. The YMCA/YWCA pool is also set to close next year. It is crucially important that we work to mitigate these impacts and ensure that families, swim club members, seniors, and all users have access to rec centres and a public pool somewhere in the region, while construction is underway. The Crystal Pool has 400,000 unique visits per year, and the project will create challenges in meeting the needs of those diverse users,” Caradonna said.
This city will advocate to the Victoria Regional Transit Commission to consider options to alter transit routes, on a temporary basis, to accommodate current Crystal Pool users during periods of interrupted facility services.
Victoria staff will also work with colleagues in Esquimalt, Oak Bay and Saanich to coordinate ways of mitigating the impacts on regional recreation centres.
The city will also ask the University of Victoria to consider re-opening McKinnon Pool for the time frame and discuss the possibility of increasing public access to one or more privately owned pools such as hotels.
