Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Satisfied that they have enough public support behind them, the Greater Napanee Pool Task Force was given the green light to move towards the next phase of their plan — finding a way to pay for it.
Speaking to Greater Napanee council on Tuesday night, the group asked council for permission to seek out funding methods, grants and to negotiate in good faith to form a partnership with the YMCA to operate a multi-use aquatics facility in Napanee. They were given unanimous support from council, which included every member except councillor Carol Harvey who was absent from the meeting.
Preliminary estimates peg the cost of a 21, 000 square foot indoor aquatic facility at $9.9 million and a multi-use 32, 300 square foot aquatic facility at $14.5 million.
Peter Dafoe, the town’s manager of infrastructure services and a member of the task force told council that empirical data supports the drive for an aquatic facility.
“Professional market research has validated not only the 2012 and the 2015 surveys (which canvassed residents about their interest in having a pool in Napanee), but has stated that within a high level of confidence a significant demand for a multi-use aquatic facility located at the Strathcona Paper Centre,” Dafoe said.
Among those in favour of a pool is a group of local physicians, who stated the health benefits of a community pool would benefit residents of all ages.
Dafoe also noted those numbers were taken only from the residents of Greater Napanee, and could be even higher if surrounding communities such as Stone Mills were included.
“The next step for the Pool Task Force is arguably the most challenging task yet,” said Dafoe. “How do we finance a project of this magnitude? That’s the big question that everybody’s asking. Do we know that yet? No.”
Dafoe said with council’s permission they would begin to assemble a financial package to help develop a plan to pay for a facility. He also noted that they’d almost certainly need a partnership through an organization like the YMCA to make it work, which would mean going with the more expensive $14.5-million option.
“In general, aquatics loses money,” said Dafoe. “You’re going to run a deficit if you’re running an aquatic facility. When you look at potential partnerships, they’re going to look for a multi-use (facility).”
By agreeing to move to the next phase, council agreed to continue to study the project but is yet to make any sort of financial commitment towards actually building a pool. They all agreed they would like to have more answers before taking any major steps one way or the other.
“I’d love to have a pool here, I think it’d be a wonderful facility,” said councillor Roger Cole. “In my humble number crunching, just to scare everyone — and I’m frightened at this point — I just used the $10 million number, without the $300,000 to $500,000 a year of upkeep, maintenance and salaries, just a $10-million payback would put a 10-per-cent increase on your taxes. The $15 million for the multi-use facility would be significantly more.”
Cole did add he would support a pool, so long as it boiled down to an ‘affordable facility.’
No major decision on the pool is expected for at least the next four months as council prepares for inevitable turnover following the October municipal election. In that regard the pool is expected to be a well debated issue as the campaigning season gets underway in a few months.
In the meantime the committee will continue to explore funding options and will present their findings to the new council in the fall.
Greater Napanee has been without an outdoor pool since 2009 when the outdoor facility at Rotary Park was deemed too expensive to repair. Two years later the town’s only public indoor pool closed as well leaving the town without any public swimming facility.