Queens Place. Photo Ed Halverson

As the Queens Pool Committee gets down to the business of planning a replacement for the outdoor pool in Milton, some in the community are asking why those resources aren’t being poured into the development of an indoor pool for Queens.

At the recent Region of Queens council meeting some suggested the estimated $3 million anonymous donation should be lumped together with the $2.5 million the Region had set aside for a replacement to get close to $6 million in seed money.

They say the next step would be to use that money to entice the province and federal government to provide matching funding up to $18 million to build an indoor facility.

The group recognized an indoor pool would require a great deal more annual funding to run year-round.

The closest comparable facility to what’s being proposed for Queens Place is the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre.

The Lunenburg County Multi-Purpose Centre Corporation oversees operations at the LCLC.

Projected year-end numbers released at their January meeting show the Town of Bridgewater and the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg contributed a total of $1,054,915 in municipal operating grants to the LCLC, just over half the $1,980,192 the facility took in total revenue.

The corporation is expecting expenses will be $2,215,323 for an operating loss of $235,131 in 2022-23.

The LCLC offers a rink, pool, meeting and fitness rooms, and houses the public library.

General Manager Kent Walsh says that while it may sound similar to what Queens Place would look like if the proposed indoor pool was added, it really is not a fair comparison.

“I was thinking of analogies and it’s like saying, what’s the fuel economy in a car,” said Walsh. “Well, it depends on the car and if I tell you that the fuel economy is 14 litres to the 100kms and what does that actually mean when you’re looking at a different car. It’s just totally different.”

Walsh says there are any number of factors that will impact the operating costs of an indoor pool.

He says the hours of operation, the number of swim lessons and other programming that is offered will impact the amount it will cost for staffing.

The size of the pool, and the source of power, whether it is solar, direct from the NS Power grid or some other method will dictate some of the operating costs.

And those numbers are just the tip of the iceburg.

Walsh says without knowing the final design it is impossible to begin to guess what the operating cost of an indoor pool facility would be.

He says from his experience, whether Queens builds an indoor or outdoor pool they should put together their long-term wish list for the facility and build it all at once.

“I think the one learning from the LCLC, because there were so many cuts made when things were being constructed, is that you just shoot yourself in the foot long term. If they end up going into this thing God I hope they go whole hog,” said Walsh. “ Don’t try to make a four lane, you know getting under the wire on costs. Just go the whole nine-yards because otherwise in five years when you just completely outgrown the thing…”

Walsh is naturally a huge supporter of recreation and fitness facilities.

He says every community is trying to attract healthcare workers and other talented people to come work in their industries, and a well-developed recreation centre can be a huge factor when trying to recruit young families to the area.

Welsh firmly believes the health benefits to the community more than make up for the cost to run many of these programs.

“You know what it costs when someone has a heart attack? A million dollars right off the bat, heart attack, bypass surgery, recovery, a million dollars. And it stresses out a system that’s already stressed out, all the negative things that come from you know, poor health.”

Walsh says it’s always better and less costly to prevent those kind of health emergencies. “If you can put programs in place that improve health outcomes for people, well how many, how many people do you got to divert from having a heart attack to make it worthwhile right?”

With no estimates on the cost to build and operate an indoor pool and no firm commitment from other levels of government to come up with additional funding to pay for it the indoor pool discussion could very well amount to little more than a nice idea.

Council will be addressing several motions pertaining to the construction of an outdoor pool when they meet this Tuesday February 14.

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The fitness room side of Queens Place is a potential site for a new outdoor pool. Photo Ed Halverson

Support for an indoor pool in Queens is growing.

At the Jan 24 Region of Queens Council meeting held in Brooklyn several people stood to say they would like to tie the construction of an indoor pool to the build of a new library.

The Region has received an anonymous donation, alleged to be worth $3 million to be used for the construction of an outdoor pool.

One of the proponents of an indoor pool, Kristopher Snarby says pooling that with the $3 million council has set aside for the new library would give the municipality around $6 million which they could use to leverage matching contributions from provincial and federal levels of government for a total of up to $18 million.

“But maybe they would each cough up $6 million, which does happen for certain projects where they cost share a third, a third, a third. So, part of it was like, why haven’t we even asked those questions?” wonders Snarby. “Why aren’t we rallying to try to get other levels of government to help support these projects?”

Mayor Darlene Norman says she is a huge fan of indoor pools as she put herself through university working at one.

She understands the health benefits and the community’s desire to have such a facility but questions the long-term affordability of operating an indoor pool.

It’s a discussion she had recently with the mayor of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg about their own pool, the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre (LCLC) which they operate in partnership with the Town of Bridgewater.

Mayor Norman says as Nova Scotia looks to double its population over the next 40 years the move will be to regionalize services and with the LCLC, Queens has access to a pool 35 minutes up the road.

“We should be helping support the LCLC,” said Norman. “And I believe that as a regional government what we could do is we could talk with Queens County Transit, we could talk with the LCLC, we could see if we could offer subsidized to say swimming lessons and transportation throughout the winter months.”

Snarby says he understands the Region has a couple of million dollars set aside to assist in the development of the outdoor pool and that money could be the start of an ongoing fund to mitigate long-term operational losses.

“And my point was like, if we can fund the building through the federal and provincial government, take that two and a half million dollars to start an operating nest egg and then start building this fund in the next four to five years, which is probably how long it would take to build the facility,” said Snarby.

He is aware assessed home values are going up over the next couple of years which will mean increased revenue for the municipality.

Snarby suggests shifting some of that excess to the operating fund then combing the community to try and raise another $4-5 million while construction takes place over the next few years.

But it’s talk like that that raises concerns for Norman around how long it could take to see a combined indoor pool/library built.

It’s widely acknowledged the existing Milton pool is on its last legs and the Rossignol Centre which houses the Thomas Raddall Library is up for sale, putting the library’s future in jeopardy as well.

Norman is concerned any delay in the construction of either a new library or outdoor pool could leave the area without either service.

“It is my viewpoint that the longer we drag on this the longer we will be without pool facilities and the people in this county, the 10,000 people in this county cannot afford to own and operate a large indoor year-round pool,” said Norman.

Snarby says while the area could be without a pool for a short time, it could be worth it if the community gets the indoor pool they’ve been talking about for the last 40 years.

“Do you rush and say afterwards, oh shoot, we should have done it differently or do you wait and do it right and I don’t know the answer to that,” said Snarby. “It’s a question the community has to decide.”

Norman says the Region will speak with the provincial and federal governments to find out if they’re interested in funding an indoor pool.

In the meantime, council will be voting on motions suggested by the outdoor pool committee at upcoming meeting.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.