Pool project runs over budget

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This article was published 11/02/2016 (3616 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the second summer in a row, Transcona residents will be without an outdoor pool.

It was announced on Feb. 8 that the upgrades to the Transcona Centennial pool have been halted. In 2014, council approved $6 million in upgrades to the pool, including the new outdoor pool and splash pad at the corner of Kildare Avenue and Wabasha Street, and expanded indoor change rooms. John Kieran, the city’s planning director, told council that work was stopped because the project had run over budget by $1.2 million. Planned upgrades to the indoor pool have been scrapped in favour of concentrating on the outdoor work.

Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) called the new plan, which includes an outdoor change and washroom building, “a shortsighted political decision by the mayor and EPC.”

The indoor pool, which was a centennial project, is nearing the end of its lifespan, and will need major renovations if it is to remain open to the community for years to come.

“Infrastructure’s like anything else, if you don’t maintain it you run it into the ground,” Wyatt told The Herald. “The idea was to try to give new life to an older facility, to avoid a Sherbrook Pool scenario.”

Upgrades to the pool’s electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems, as well as renovations to the pool’s indoor change rooms, have been put on hold.
“The washrooms and change rooms inside are in deplorable condition,” Wyatt said. “But they don’t seem to give a damn, they don’t live in this community.”

Wyatt said that the facility is vital to the people in the Park City.

“The (city) can’t afford to lose the facility,” he said. “Our community is growing. There’s a need for swimming lessons, to increase the programming, not decrease it. The closest pool is Elmwood Kildonans (909 Concordia Ave.).”

Despite the setbacks, Wyatt said he is still confident that the $1.2-million shortfall can be found to complete the project, inside and out, provided there is enough political will to do so.

“If the community believes in this project, we need to let the mayor know,” he said. “There’s always money for the south. But when it comes to our end of the city, we get the shaft.”

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