Talk of Rossland’s swimming pool dominated this week’s council meeting, as the public packed the gallery in support of keeping the 93-year-old pool in service.
Rossland Mayor Andy Morel says the pool has been under review for years and a decision has been made to not invest heavily to keeping it running, but to provide band aids where necessary as they investigate other options for water activities in the community.
“We understand that it is an important part of our community we are going to explore all of their options when it comes to water use in the community. Council very much recognizes how important swimming lessons are, especially to our youth, and personally I feel that it’s very important that everyone learns to swim at a young age but we’re looking at all options including regional as well to see if we can meet those needs to the community,” said Morel.
“We recognized some time ago that it was coming out as far as its lifespan, and it has far exceeded expectations as far as how long it would last.”
Mayor Morel acknowledges the importance of the pool to the community and thanks those who took to the floor to express their concerns.
“A number of people showed up in support of the pool on Monday evening.”
The motion is to not close the pool, but for it to remain open without major investment.
The cost to replace or bring the pool up to reasonable standards is in the million of dollars, which council believes would be better spent elsewhere.
“We have lots of other priorities in the community currently that we are investigating and know that we have to make investments in,” said Morel.
“But in the short term, we’re hoping the pool can continue to go. I mean, we’ve certainly been able to band aid it for a lot of years and keep it running, but we have made that commitment that we’re not going to make major investments at this time.”
“I’m really proud of council taking making the effort to have a robust conversation about it and to consider all options that are put forward to us.”
The recommendations are to phase out the pool due to high costs, seasonality, and feasibility concerns while saving for decommissioning and to further explore possible alternative seasonal (summer) water-use facility or amenity options within the City and with the neighbouring communities of Warfield and Trail.
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