Aquatics groups are shoring up support for a new world-class aquatic facility they’d like to see built in Burnaby.
The city is in the early stages planning a new aquatic centre on the current C.G. Brown site near the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex, and the local aquatic community is pushing for a world-class competition pool rather than another recreation-focused facility like the last two pools the city built: Eileen Daly and Edmonds.
Those pools have been all but unusable for competitive clubs like the Burnaby Barracudas Swim Club, according to president Laura Marquez.
“We need community water space as well,” she said. “I’m not saying that we don’t, but there’s hours where it’s even good business for the city to rent out to groups like ours who can use it for running programs.”
In a glossy draft proposal drawn up by Tourism Burnaby, the Barracudas, Simon Fraser University’s varsity aquatics program, the Burnaby Water Polo Club, Fortius Sport& Health and other area swim clubs call on the city to considered a facility with two deep, Olympic-sized pools (one indoor, one outdoor), deck space for training and competition, competition-calibre diving boards, seating for 2,000 spectators, digital scoreboards, timing system, broadcast quality broadband and lighting plus meeting rooms, storage space, office space and food and beverage outlets.
The proposal touts the benefits of a world-class facility for attracting marquee national and international events to the city and for meeting the currently unmet needs of local competitive swimmers, divers and water polo players.
The Barracudas program, for example, is currently spread out over five local pools and one pool in New Westminster to meet the needs of its 307 swimmers, according to Marquez.
Her club was capped this year and had to turn swimmers away, she said, as did the 200-strong Burnaby Mountain Mantas.
“If we were one club, we’d be the biggest in British Columbia,” Marquez said. “There’s a lot of swimmers.”
SFU’s varsity swimmers, meanwhile, will have to drive out to Richmond to prepare for upcoming Olympic trials, according to SFU head varsity swim coach Liam Donnelly, because Burnaby’s only Olympic-sized pool is outdoors at Central Park.
Donnelly was at a school board meeting last month, seeking a letter of support from the board explaining how the new pool would benefit the district’s school partnership sports programs with SFU.
Thirty-six swimmers and soccer players currently earn course credits and get top-level training from SFU coaches and varsity athletes under the program, which runs within the district’s academic timetable.
With the proposed facility, Donnelly told trustees the partnership could be expanded to 100 students in aquatic sports alone.
“The programs would run within their current high school academic timetable, during the day, while the aquatic facilities are at their lowest usage point,” Donnelly said. “The city has concern that, should they build a large aquatic complex that would accommodate the community competitive sports groups, that it would sit empty during school hours.”
The B.C. Water Polo Association, meanwhile, wrote a letter in August, urging the city not to build a smaller aquatic centre.
Executive director David Soul stated in the letter that aquatic groups had heard he city was considering a smaller, six-lane, 75-metre pool for C.G. Brown.
“The differences between these outcomes in terms of both local community aquatic programming and in benefits to the Burnaby business community are extremely significant,” he wrote. “The smaller facility would not be optimal for local club programming and would in fact restrict both active for life and competitive offerings for aquatic sports at all but the youngest youth age groups.”
City director of parks, recreation and culture Dave Ellenwood, however, said the city has made no decisions yet about things like the number of lanes or the configuration of the new facility.
“I don’t know where water polo would have developed an idea that we were decided on some things,” he said, “but it seems to usually happen where people hear rumours or something like that.”
City council only just approved a $350,000 feasibility study Monday to look into the C.G. Brown project, he said, and over the next eight months or so, all stakeholders will have a chance to give input.
While Ellenwood said he’s not ruling anything out, a two-pool facility at the site would pose challenges.
“That would be a big footprint, and the soils are not great there,” Ellenwood said. “It also would be more costly, so council would have to determine if that’s something they could afford to do.”
