Council hears 4 options for new outdoor pool

Brandon City Council on Monday heard four options for a new outdoor pool that would open in 2028.

The proposals for the pools and related infrastructure are for the Keystone Centre, Kin Park or Rideau Park — where Brandon’s current aging pool is located. Costs would be anywhere from $4.3 million to $6.1 million, Todd Burton, general manager of operations for the city, told council members at the special meeting.

“Those were the three sites that we saw as the best options for us right now,” Burton said.

In the summer, council asked administration to study what a new outdoor pool could look like, with a maximum budget of $4.5 million. Council requested the proposal be large enough for 250-300 people and include a beach entry, lap pool, slides, diving board, spray features, lazy river and a new change house.

The request came after the Kiwanis Pool at the Keystone Centre closed in 2019, and the aging Kinsmen Centennial Pool — the only remaining outdoor pool in the city — opened more than a month late this year after repairs were needed.

The first proposal presented to council Monday was to tear down the existing Kinsmen Centennial Pool in Rideau Park and replace it with two side-by-side pools — one leisure and one for laps with five lanes — that would also include two waterslides, a tot pool, a vortex lazy river and a diving board. That model would cost just over $5 million.

The second option would be at the Keystone Centre and would include the same specifications as the one proposed for Rideau Park, except it would only have one water slide and the lap pool would have six lanes. This option would cost anywhere from $5.2 to $6.1 million.

The third option would be at Kin Park and would be one pool with four lap lanes connected to a leisure section, with a vortex and one waterslide. This option would come at a price of just under $4.3 million.

The last option would be for the Kin Park model to be implemented at the Keystone Centre. No price was given for that model.

Burton said the models “are still very conceptual” and could be altered. Additional waterslides, he added, would cost about $300,000 each.

All of the options need a changeroom and parking lot to be built as well, and these were included in the prices presented.

The building for the changerooms would also include housing for the operating system, an admission desk and a meeting room.

Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) said he likes the first Keystone Centre option the best, and would like to see the Rideau Park pool rebuilt in the future as well.

“This way, we’ve always got at least one pool in operation while the new one’s being built, and then eventually we’ll have two outdoor pools and waterparks,” Berry said.

Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) said he also prefers the first Keystone Centre option.

“It allows us the ability to keep the Rideau Park pool open while construction of the new facility takes place,” Luebke said in an interview with the Sun before the meeting.

Burton said if the Rideau Park option is chosen, the city would be without an outdoor pool for one year.

He told council that the hope would be that Rideau Park would continue to be in operation for a few more years if possible.

Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) said bringing the proposals forward now allows the community to also give feedback before council discusses it at budget deliberations.

Desjarlais asked Burton if the proposals can be scaled down if council wanted, and if a lap pool could be removed if council deemed it wasn’t necessary.

Burton said he wasn’t completely sure, but that answers to that question and others that he was bombarded with at the meeting could be answered by next year’s budget deliberations.

Coun. Heather Karrouze (Ward 1) said she’s not sure if a lap pool is necessary at all, as there is already one at the Sportsplex, and an outdoor one is only operational for a few months at a time.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett before the meeting said its important for the city to have these discussions, and that while recreation isn’t a “core service,” it serves an important need.

He said he wants things to be fine-tuned before a decision is made, but that he’s “fine with any of them.”

“Any of the options are great for the community,” Fawcett said. “It is a big investment for about four or five months … of the year. But we are a growing city, we want to make sure that there is things for people to do inside the community.”

The city has applied for grants for the project to alleviate costs.

Construction on the pool would start in 2027.

Council will discuss next steps at budget deliberations on Jan. 30 and 31.

» alambert@brandonsun.com