Waterloo to dip their toe into the water and explore feasibility of elite aquatic facility

A stock photo of a young girl in a swimming pool. (Unsplash/Raj Rana)

The City of Waterloo isn’t ready to dive in quite yet, but they are exploring the possibly of building an elite aquatic facility.

Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe floated the idea of conducting a feasibility study for a high-performance aquatic facility during a meeting on Monday.

The facility would include a 50-metre pool, a practice pool, conditioning rooms and spectator seating.

“I have to say, I’m a bit taken aback by the overwhelming support for this,” McCabe said, referencing emails, phone calls and letters from members of the public. “I heard, and maybe others have heard, some concerns about this as well because we all know that pools come with a bit of a pretty hefty price tag.”

McCabe began her remarks by acknowledging many people throughout the region are struggling with the current cost of living.

“But I do want to be clear that the purpose of this motion is to signal to staff that when we get to the point, and it’s not in the next year, but when we do get to the point of really looking at designing our west side recreation centre that, if this is passed, that a 50-metre competition pool is something that is considered in that design.”

She said there would not be any potential property tax impacts in 2025 or 2026.

“I also want to send a signal to the provincial government and the federal governments through their infrastructure programs that we are, if passed, a community that is interested in building and hosting regionally significant sports infrastructure,” she explained. “I also want to signal to our community partners that we are looking for partners to do this because I don’t believe that this is something that we can do on our own.”

McCabe’s motion noted that currently, Wilfrid Laurier University has the only 50-metre pool in the entire Region of Waterloo. It is getting older and doesn’t quite meet competition standards with only six lanes instead of eight to ten.

Dean Boles, CEO of Swim Ontario, said years ago he fought to save the university pool, but its time to also look toward the future.

“The Laurier pool is approaching end of life and facing operational constraints,” Boles said while delegating to council. “The University of Waterloo pool is aging and is considerably undersized for today’s community and sports demands. The region currently lacks a modern 50-metre facility, forcing clubs, university teams and residents to seek training and programing outside the community.”

He said the facility would not only serve as a training ground for potential future Olympians, but could also serve the community as a place where children take part in the learn-to-swim lessons that could save their lives one day.

Boles also noted building the facility could attract more events, and therefore more money, to the city.

McCabe’s motion unanimously passed. Staff will now approach the federal and provincial governments to ensure they know the city is interested in hosting a facility in hopes of securing funding for any future developments.

With reporting from Krista Simpson