Circling the drain: Sask. cities face the problem of aging outdoor pools

If you want an outdoor public pool in your community, you and your neighbours should demand one.

That’s the lesson learned from Saskatoon’s history, according to information supplied by the city’s archivist, Jeff O’Brien.

Three of Saskatoon’s existing outdoors pools were built in response to public campaigns, and pressure from residents helped save two of the pools from closure.

"I'm glad they're keeping the pool," Diane Deptuck told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix in July 2009 as Mayfair Pool turned 50 years old. "There are too many children around here who have nothing to do all day."

Deptuck, who had taken her six-year-old grandson to the pool as its shelf life was ending, recalled teaching her daughter to swim in Mayfair Pool. But it was leaking and Deptuck described the state of the change rooms as “horrid” for the last 15 years, specifically decrying the “stench.”

The pool reopened in 2012 after a $4.8-million refresh. That was the second time it had been slated for closure and then resurrected. In the early 1990s, it was identified as a candidate for closure, but public pressure kept it open — even the “horrid” change rooms.

Like Saskatoon's Lathey and George Ward pools, Mayfair was built in direct response to community pressure. A petition with 10,000 names was presented to city council in 1958 and Mayfair Pool opened on July 4, 1959. It cost $166,514, a sliver of the price of its rehabilitation 50 years later.

Now it’s George Ward’s turn to go through the same debate. The Holliston neighbourhood pool marked 60 years of operation on July 1, but it’s actually the newest in terms of its debut.

George Ward was built for $225,000 after a petition with 8,000 signatures was presented to council in 1963. That petition included the suggestion the pool be named for Ward, the city’s recreation director.

Last month, the closure of George Ward was presented to council among 108 options to reduce the property tax increase. Council never even voted on the proposal, which would have saved $152,000 in annual operational costs.

Likewise, council punted options to reduce the outdoor pool season and the hours the pools are open. A motion to increase the cost of admission was defeated 9-2.

City manager Jeff Jorgenson acknowledged that some of the proposals to reduce the tax hike were “unpalatable.”

But a city report says George Ward will need to be replaced in five years, and no funding or plan exists to accomplish that.

Sixty years ago, when the youngest of the city’s pools first opened, Saskatoon had grown to about 115,000 people. The population has nearly tripled since then, but no new outdoor pools have been built. The city now boasts 67 neighbourhoods, but just four outdoor pools.

A century of splashes

Riversdale Pool, which cost $16,283.31 to build originally, marked a century since its debut in July. But it has been almost completely replaced over that period, including adding a waterslide in 1986 for $150,000 and replacement of the basin in 1995 for $1.4 million.

Lathey Pool closed for four years starting in 1985 after the city decided it needed to be replaced. Saskatoon’s second outdoor pool, the first to be built on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River, cost $155,000 to build and opened in 1955.

The cost of replacing it was just shy of $1 million.

Michael Roma, a managing partner with RC Strategies, an Edmonton-based consulting company that focuses on community services, said building an outdoor pool today can cost $20 million or more.

Combine that with the short season — Saskatoon pools open in June and close by September — and it's difficult to justify, Roma said in a recent interview.

“You’re not making money off of any pool, for sure,” he said. “There’s an investment or subsidy that has to go into it.”

Changing weather patterns and new hazards like heavy smoke from wildfires linked to climate change can further reduce the “social return” from such an investment, which already has limited availability, he said.

Indoor pools can cost three times as much, but it can be easier to justify the cost because they're available far more often, Roma said.

“Even though [outdoor pools are] cheaper [to build,] even though they are popular. Like, you can’t argue with the nostalgia of walking through a neighbourhood and hearing kids splash around in an outdoor pool.”

Saskatoon has added other, cheaper summer amenities like spray pads, which number 23, and 30 paddling pools.

Roma stopped short of saying outdoor pools could one day disappear from the Prairies, but he said the availability per capita will continue to shrink.

“I can’t speak to why there are any outdoor pools in the Prairies, but if you made a case against an outdoor pool, it would probably be stronger in the Prairie provinces than most places in the world.”

That sinking feeling

Part of the problem is that population growth does not generally pay for major facilities through development levies, which is why new venues do not appear when a city experiences a major influx of people like Saskatoon, he said.

Cities struggle just to pay for maintenance and operation of existing amenities.

“There’s an affordability train that is going to hit a wall.”

Roma’s company has crafted strategic plans for recreation facilities for both Saskatoon and Regina. The Regina plan identified two outdoor pools in need of replacing, the same dilemma looming for George Ward in Saskatoon.

Regina city hall announced in late 2018 a plan to rebuild the then-71-year-old Wascana Pool for $16.5 million and permanently close the 72-year-old Maple Leaf Pool in the city’s Heritage neighbourhood.

But people showed up at Regina budget talks in 2018 to voice their opposition to closing Maple Leaf Pool. Eventually, it was demolished and rebuilt for $6.2 million in response to passionate residents determined to keep their beloved outdoor amenity.

Regina still boasts five outdoor public pools compared to just four in Saskatoon, which has more than 50,000 additional residents. Edmonton, with more than three times the population of Saskatoon, only has five outdoor pools.

Reisha Peters, president of the Holliston Community Association, told Saskatoon Morning last month that she was “a little heartbroken” to hear George Ward Pool might close. She takes her own children there for swimming lessons.

She said the loss of one of Saskatoon’s pools would place enormous pressure on the other three.

“Lathey Pool, in particular,” Peters said. “If it’s a hot day, you might be waiting an hour in line just to get in, and especially with little kids, that’s a big ask.”

An agonizing decision on either closing or spending millions to revitalize George Ward Pool awaits Saskatoon city council in the coming years.

In Moose Jaw, a plan to replace an outdoor pool of the same vintage as George Ward is estimated to cost about $13 million with no funding plan in place.

But how pools are built has changed since the original was built, including much better mechanical systems and tunnels around the basin to make repairs easier. Those advances can reduce the cost of maintenance and operations.

Roma said expectations for an outdoor pool have also grown beyond a rectangular tank, however. People now want waterslides, hot tubs and other amenities.

“People expect something different now than they would have in the ‘60s.”