Future of Vancouver Aquatic Centre uncertain after court injunction halts demolition

When Vancouver’s new park board meets for the first time in November, the fate of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre could be back on the agenda after a B.C. appeals court temporarily halted demolition.

The B.C. Court of Appeal granted an interim injunction Oct. 13, stopping demolition work until Nov. 3 — a day after the new board’s inaugural meeting, giving commissioners a chance to reconsider the controversial redevelopment.

The plan calls for replacing the West End aging facility’s 50-metre pool with a 25-metre pool, a move that has drawn opposition from swimmers and clubs.

“The injunction buys time. It does not reverse anything,” said director Jon Girard on the society’s website, adding “unless a majority of the new park board is willing to revisit the 25-metre decision the demolition picks up where it stopped” when the injunction expires.

The injunction prohibits interior demolition, stripping and site preparation, protecting the pool basins, interior structures and exterior, according to the society.

The court also gave the City of Vancouver permission to seek changes to the injunction, with two days notice to the society, to allow hazardous-material removal that would not compromise the building.

The 52-year-old facility has been closed since late June.

The city plans to replace it with a $175-million facility featuring a 25-metre pool, leisure pool, sauna, diving tank, expanded fitness room and multipurpose space for community events. The new building would occupy the existing site’s footprint, with a park board report citing space and timeline constraints as reasons 50-metre pool designs were deemed unviable.

The loss of the 50-metre pool has alarmed competitive swimmers and clubs, which say the facility is needed to train athletes and host provincial- and national-level competitions. Swimming Canada has described the loss of 50-metre pools across the country, including in Vancouver, as part of Canada’s “aquatic facility crisis.”

The society had previously tried unsuccessfully to stop the redevelopment, arguing that Vancouver voters approved $103 million in borrowing in a 2022 plebiscite to renew the existing 50-metre pool, not replace it.

The controversy has also become an election issue, with several civic parties pledging to preserve or build 50-metre pools.

Society co-directors Girard and Mayeli Alvarez are candidates for park board commissioners with TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, which has promised to retain a 50-metre pool at the aquatic centre. The Vancouver Liberals also support a 50-metre pool at the site.

ABC Vancouver, which won a majority on park board in the last election, has since reversed course on its previous administration’s decision and now pledges to deliver a 50-metre pool at the aquatic centre.

The Green party said it would keep the current redevelopment plan but build a new 50-metre pool in east Vancouver, at either Hastings or Kensington community centre, while OneCity proposes addressing the shortage by building new pools in Mount Pleasant, Hastings Community Centre, and in Marpole.

chchan@postmedia.com