March 14th, 2023
Summertime is when many kids hit the pool for swimming lessons. For communities that have a pool that works great, but for a growing Town and RM, the town of Lumsden with a population of 1,800 and the neighbouring RM with a population of 1,968, it’s a yearly struggle to make sure there is enough private pool owners who are willing to lend the use of their pool in the summer so kids have a local place to go. In 2022 300 kids took lessons in private Lumsden pools.
Water wings
Lumsden is in the very early stages of looking at the feasibility of a swimming pool, but pools aren’t cheap. Estimates get into the millions of dollars, and for cash-strapped municipalities, it’s usually too far of a stretch.
Litmus test
Recently, the City of Regina took the first step towards replacing the aging Lawson Aquatic Centre at a cost of 160.7 million dollars, with the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) grant kicking in around 108 million. Servicing a smaller community, Montmartre’s Kemoca Regional Park has received approval for 2.5 million dollars of ICIP funding for a 3.4 million dollar project to replace their 50-year-old pool and for an RM and Town combined population of 800 people, that’s a pretty impressive feat. While they have been approved for the grant, they are still in the preliminary stages of working on sponsorship and fundraising and determining what the Town and RM will be contributing.
Kemoca Regional Park Manager Sharon May, who also works on economic development for the Town and RM, said the pool/spray park project started in 2017. They started exploring a splash park and evolved to where they are today. The regional park is attached to the town of Montmartre. Revenue from their seasonal and daily camping has funded the operational costs of the outdoor pool, which is open for two months during the summer. The communities have raised approximately $250K of the estimated $960K they need to contribute through cabarets, donations and a version of chase the ace. They will be looking at sponsorship funding packages, such as naming rights, to meet their goals.
Headcount
In the fall of 2021, Lumsden took a community-wide survey to gauge the level of interest in an outdoor pool. The survey went to Lumsden mailboxes. There was a 26% response rate, with 72% somewhat interested in a pool. 62% said they were at least somewhat interested in increasing municipal taxes for a pool. The Lumsden Aquatic Facility Advisory Committee was struck to do preliminary research and recommendations on expected capital and operating costs, possible locations, type of facility and funding. The committee was made up for community volunteers, councillors and the Town’s Community Coordinator. They submitted a report of their findings to the group 1 committee on February 8th.
Displacement
The report looked at the costs of building and maintaining different sizes and types of pools - indoor and outdoor. A small outdoor pool to build would be in 2.3million, and a large outdoor would be 4.3 million. A small indoor pool, 7.5M and a large, 14.6M. Annual operating costs would see a shortfall of 94,000 for an outdoor pool and an indoor pool, a shortfall of 367,000. Property tax funding scenarios were also looked at. A solely town-funded scenario saw increases of 5.3% for an outdoor pool and 20.73% for an indoor pool. A 50/50 tax split between the RM and the Town would see a more moderate increase with 2.65% and 10.73%, respectively.
The proposed fundraising plan included 1)Federal and provincial grants, 2) Corporate and private sponsorship and 3) Community fundraising and partnership efforts.
The report concluded that “An aquatic facility would be a viable and positive option for the Town of Lumsden and surrounding area. There are many benefits it would provide to the community. Lumsden has a excellent track record for fundraising and successful implementation of projects like this. There is a strong volunteer base available and public sentiment is favourable.”
Down River
It added, “It was clear that any decisions surrounding a community pool would need to consider multiple factors including future development, future recreational facilities, and interdependancies. Integrating this information into a Parks and Recreation Master Plan is critical to ensure everything is considered and decisions are made based on the long term. With this in mind the research conducted by this committee supported proceeding to the next steps for building a community pool.”
Group Swim
The report identified that community engagement was critical to moving the project forward, recommending a third-party consultant to facilitate that process.
On February 21st, at a special meeting of the council, the Aquatic Committee presented a supplemental report specifically for operating costs and looked at other communities as comparables. As a result, the council passed a resolution “...Group I Committee obtain quotes for the preparation of a Recreation Master Plan, with the 1st phase of the plan being the investigation of the feasibility of a new swimming pool.”
Diving for coins
When we inquired about the potential funding through ICIP and if deadlines were a concern. Community Coordinator Chris Exner said that there are usually grants available for these types of projects. Assistant Administrator Krystal Strong said it’s too early to put in a grant application, “We are not at the stage of looking at grant funding, as the decision has not been made yet whether the municipality will move forward with building pool. There are many questions and considerations that need to be answered first.”
We will cover this story more as it develops.
