Despite being a half a century old and in need of repairs, the St. Davids community pool will remain open through the rest of this season and the foreseeable future thereafter, says Niagara-on-the-Lake’s lord mayor.
Speaking at the St. Davids Ratepayers Association regular meeting Aug. 20, Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa said to the approximately 30 people in attendance that “the pool will continue to be in the community and maintained and operated.”
Barring “any kind of strange event,” town crews “are going to keep it running — that’s the plan,” he added.
Built in 1969, the popular 25-metre, six-lane pool, which features a 1,900 sq. ft. change house/lifeguard station, has experienced major mechanical issues over the past 20 years.
An information sheet distributed at the meeting states the facility’s vulcanized piping is cracking, which has led to water leading into the surrounding soil.
“Town staff have repaired the leaks, but much more occurs every year,” it continued.
Another issue is a broken main drain at the bottom of the pool, leading municipal staff to put in sidewall drains.
The facility is also non-compliant when it comes to Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities standards, which all public establishments are meant to be in compliance with by next year.
In 2019, the town began conversations with an architect to design a new pool and applied for a grant through the Canada Infrastructure Program the same year, but it was unsuccessful in receiving the money.
The estimated cost of a new pool based on 2019 dollars was $5 million.
That, said Zalepa, will likely be a lot more today due to the rapid rise of inflation in the past five years.
Additionally, attendees were made aware the town is collecting information via its parks and recreation masterplan review to assess current infrastructure needs and find ways to improve the physical wellbeing of NOTLers — Zalepa encouraged all residents to take part through the town’s community engagement platform.
“That’s a fancy way of saying … take a look at all your recreational facilities, determine what needs are missing, what things could be could we do, what things are we no longer using well, and how could we repurpose those things, those assets, to do more of things people want,” he said.
The bottom line, Zalepa added, is that the town will continue to operate with “Band-Aid” repairs until it can find the money to replace the pool, either through the municipality’s capital budget, community fundraising or by further attempts at provincial and federal grants.
Coun. Adriana Vizzari, who resides in St. Davids and was in attendance, said that the community has shown it wants and needs the pool and she is proud of what council is doing to protect it.
“I think I spend every single day at the pool, surely, and it is hopping,” she said.
“There are lane swims, there are lessons, it is affordable, it is accessible — it is exactly what we want at a community pool.”
