A retired city worker is organizing a push for a new pool for Port Alberni.
Randy Fraser started the “Build the Pool Society” and collected 1500 signatures on a petition he presented to city council.
He said a new pool is the most important piece of infrastructure the city should be working towards.
“An aquatic centre is one of your most expensive, and one of your most important facilities,” he said. “It offers so much value and benefit, and this one needs to be replaced. When you consider the well-being and interests of the community, I think an overwhelming number of people in the community, through e-mails, comments, and this petition, has made it very clear that a new aquatic centre is the most important, valuable and beneficial to them.”
Mayor Sharie Minions said council is working with the regional district who have agreed to pay for a feasibility study.
“The work is in making sure that it is funded and paid for equitably, and I don’t believe that the 17,000 people who happen to live within city limits should pay 100% of the costs of an asset that will cost a significant amount and will service 30,000 people who live in this valley,” she said.
Council asked that a specific account be set up to begin saving for a new pool.
Previously allocated funds from the community forest and RCMP surplus designated for a pool replacement project has gone into a parks and recreation department reserve fund.
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