The Vancouver Parks Board wants to replace the Vancouver Aquatic Centre with a 25m pool.
The plans are set to go before the Vancouver Park Board for approval on Monday, March 31 at 6:30 pm. This plan will see a reduction of our cherished 50 metre pool to a 25 metre pool, casting aside the results from many years of public consultation, planning, public hearings, and ignoring the 2022 Plebiscite, AND will result in the closure of the current facility during the many years while it is under construction.
This proposed shrinking of the lap pool would reduce a public amenity vital for health, wellbeing, and sport in our growing community. The Architects/Consultants, having received over 10 million dollars for the project, have fallen well short of the mandate that identified the 50m pool as the top priority. Let your voice be heard that you do not agree with or support this decision.
Email the parks board members below
[Subject: Proposed VAC Downsizing: A Colossal Failure of Public Planning]
Dear Vancouver Parks Board Commissioners,
I am writing to express my profound dismay and vehement opposition to what can only be described as a colossal failure in public planning: the proposal to downgrade the Vancouver Aquatic Centre from a 50-meter pool to a 25-meter facility. This decision represents an unprecedented step backward for our city's athletic infrastructure and demonstrates a shocking disregard for taxpayers' needs and wishes.
The sheer absurdity of reducing a world-class training facility to half its current capacity defies logic and basic urban planning principles. Every evening, the existing 50-meter lanes are already filled to capacity with competitive swimmers, recreational athletes, and fitness enthusiasts. The proposal to cut this vital community resource in half isn't just short-sighted – it's completely unconscionable.
Let me be unequivocally clear: Vancouver taxpayers and users of this facility are outraged by this proposal. The fact that over 14,000 citizens have already signed a petition against this plan should send a thundering message about the community's absolute rejection of this ill-conceived proposal. We are the ones who fund these facilities through our tax dollars, and we categorically refuse to accept this dramatic downgrade of our public infrastructure.
This decision, if implemented, would:
- Devastate the training programs of multiple swimming clubs and teams
- Cripple Vancouver's ability to host significant aquatic events
- Force countless athletes to seek training facilities elsewhere
- Represent an egregious waste of taxpayer money on an inadequate facility
- Set Vancouver's athletic community back by decades
The current proposal isn't just inadequate – it's an embarrassment to a city that prides itself on world-class public facilities. As stewards of our public recreational spaces, you have a responsibility to enhance, not diminish, our community resources. This plan fails that responsibility spectacularly.
I demand that the Parks Board:
- Immediately abandon the grossly inadequate 25-meter pool proposal
- Commit to maintaining, at minimum, a 50-meter pool in any new design
- Acknowledge the overwhelming public opposition to this plan
- Engage in meaningful consultation with the community about actual needs
- Present a new proposal that enhances, rather than decimates, our aquatic facilities
The eyes of the community are on the Parks Board. Your decision will either be remembered as a moment of responsible reconsideration or an unforgivable failure of public trust. Choose wisely.
Taxpayers will not stand idly by while our vital community resources are dismantled. We expect and demand better from our public officials.
Awaiting your immediate response,
Concerned Taxpayer and Community Member