St. Albert swim clubs say the extended closure of Fountain Park pool will further exacerbate the lack of competitive swim space in the city.
The 44-year-old facility closed mid-May for life cycle repairs, including replacement of the facility’s primary air-handling system. While the closure was scheduled to end some time in September, the city announced Aug. 22 the closure will extend into 2023 due to a “significant structural issue” discovered during the repairs.
“Concrete cracking, deterioration, and rebar corrosion were identified beneath the pool deck by engineers, and this must be addressed immediately for the facility to safely operate,” the city said in the release.
The issue was found on the underside of the concrete slab that acts as the main support between the leisure and competition pools.
Because the slab is contained within the air-handling system, the city said the issue could only be identified after the system was removed and workers had a full view of the concrete.
In an email Friday, city spokesperson Cory Sinclair said there are currently no updates on the extended timeline of the closure, or whether the facility will still need to close for a second round of life cycle repair in 2024, as was announced when the facility first closed in May.
Sinclair said additional funds for the repair work will come from the already-approved envelope for repair, maintenance, and replacement (RMR) work.
Alain Casavant, registrar and acting vice-president for the St. Albert Sailfish Club, said the pool’s closure this summer significantly impacted the club’s operation.
In a typical year, the club will apply in August or early September for swim space to run its summer school, Casavant said, with swim space in Fountain Park provided by the city in October.
The club didn’t hear back after requesting swim space in 2021, and eventually received the city’s announcement about the closure through Facebook in January. Though the club was able to work with the city and secure pool space at Grosvenor Pool, in the time they were waiting to hear back 16 registered swimmers had dropped out, Casavant said.
“As a board, there were times where we were ready to go, 'OK, just forget it,'” Casavant said, noting the club is run by volunteers. “But our children need to move, and so that's why we persevered and were able to have a season in 2022.”
Because of the shorter length of Grosvenor Pool (around 23 metres when 25 metres are required), the school was unable to hold a swim meet this summer. Casavant said in the past, the club’s meets have been large events, with between 400-500 people attending from the greater Edmonton region during the last meet in 2019.
“It's the one instance where we actually have a meet, and so there's a lot of pride in that," Casavant said. "Us not being able to do that was unfortunate."
Casavant said St. Albert’s population has far outgrown the existing swim space.
“People just make an assumption that you have a pool, but you know, we're a city of 65,000 people, and we have really at our disposal one pool — Servus Place,” Casavant said of the fall and winter, when Grosvenor Pool will be closed.
Jared Buhler, president of the Olympian Swim Club, said his club had been planning for Fountain Park to reopen, and will have to make new plans.
The Olympians run programs from September to June. When Fountain Park initially closed, Buhler said the organization was able to move its St. Albert programming to Edmonton.
In the move — which shifted programming to Grant MacEwan, not all St. Albert residents could get to the facility at the times when the Olympians had booked it, Buhler said.
Now with the extended closure, Buhler said the Olympians will “lose an entire cohort of swimmers.”
“It creates this missing rung of the ladder … that upsets everything,” Buhler said. “St. Albert residents, they’re the ones that suffer, they’re the ones that aren’t able to get their kids into a competitive swim program.”
Competitive swimming 'an afterthought'
Both Buhler and Casavant stressed the issues with Servus Place being unable to provide space for competitive swimming due to the temperature of the water in the facility, and the availability of only one swim lane.
Buhler said competitive swimming in the city is “an afterthought.”
“You always consider when you build a rink that people are going to be there to watch hockey,” Buhler said. “What they don’t seem to consider when they build a pool is that people are going to watch their kids train and there’s got to be a capacity to host swim meets.”
The city is currently looking to see if additional space can be found for swim programs elsewhere in the Edmonton capital region, Sinclair said in an email Friday.
“While Landrex Water Play Centre will remain open, it is not able to accommodate our swim club and other user group needs; however, a limited offering of swim lessons will still be available at Landrex Water Play Centre,” Sinclair said in the email.
“Additional lessons have been added on Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate more registrants. We encourage people to explore opportunities to register with other aquatic venues in the capital region.”
While both Casavant and Buhler said they understand the reasoning behind the extended closure, both said this reasoning does not cancel out the negative impact it will have on recreation in St. Albert.
“It really is on the backs of the goodwill of the volunteers who try and make these things happen for the city,” Casavant said of the closure.
“We're passionate about not just swimming, but providing options for families in St. Albert to be able to get their kids out and moving.”
