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Town shelves repairs to Tony Rose swimming pool

November 21, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Properly repairing the pool at the Tony Rose Memorial Sports Centre is too costly an investment, according to Orangeville council.

The facility’s pool was closed earlier this year because of a major mechanical failure. The town assessed the short- and long-term needs of both community centres rather than invest money to fix the issue prior to any future significant investments.

Given the overall funding pressure on the current capital program as outlined in the recent Non-Core Asset Management Plan, town staff propose to defer the Facility Needs Assessment Study (FNAS) to 2026 and bring options for consideration during the 2027 budget process.

Councillor Rick Stevens suggested something should be done to meet the needs of residents. With the Tony Rose pool out of service, residents have been using the aquatic amenities at the Alder Street arena.

“Is there anything we can do?” Stevens said. “There was a lot of residents that really want that pool back and operational.”

“At this point, there’s nothing we can do to fix the mechanics of the pool unless we are going to make a significant investment,” said Heather Savage, the town’s community services general manager.

That investment would be in the form of a $1.1 million dehumidification unit and the work hours associated with its installation.

“You’ll be attaching new technology to old technology and the 51 year old technology, I am sure, would just eventually push the breakdown somewhere else,” Savage said.

“Unless we know exactly what we’re going to do with that pool, I would not recommend investing money into that pool at this time. We do need a plan. We need a funding plan. We need a feasibility plan for all of our community centres,” she added.

Such a plan will give staff and council an idea of what needs to be done at all facilities over the next 10 to 20 years, she said.

The FNAS would encompass the Tony Rose and Alder Street sports facilities as well as the library branches. The study’s goal was to research, develop, design, and produce in a fiscally responsible manner a plan to guide the community investments over that time.

Darla Fraser and Sheri Marks, the CEO and chairperson respectively of the Orangeville Public Library, appeared at council’s Nov. 18 meeting and suggested $11 million would be needed for that service. The town’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan calls for an investment as well, Savage said.

“Invest the money and you will have the facilities that you need for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years,” she said. “Those recommendations are big-ticket items.

“Until we have a comprehensive review of what our facilities need and how we should make those investments, I would not recommend putting any money into a pool.”

There’s the suggestion that the facilities study be put off until next year with budget allocations possibly being made in the 2027 capital and operational plans.

“Can it not be done next year?” Stevens said.

“There are some things that we know today,” Savage said. “What our consultants have told us in the past. (They) have done community consultations. They’ve given some recommendations.

“Are those recommendations still true today? My team and I, we’re going to go out and, as I’ve said in the past, pressure test what we know from our consultant reports, what we know from industry standards, best practices.”

Then town staff will go to the community to see if needs have changed. Then any direction decided could be attached to a funding strategy.

“We will also have the backing of the community,” she said.

Coun. Debbie Sherwood said she’s trying to understand why the facilities study would be moved from next year to 2026.

“Is it a staffing issue that you’re asking for this delay?” Sherwood said.

“Staff are ready to deploy and do the research,” Savage said. “It is about waiting to determine what a funding strategy would be.”

“So here we are potentially having another three-year pool closure,” Sherwood said, making reference to the recent extended closure of the Alder Street pool to allow repairs.

“We don’t have the money now,” said Coun. Andy Macintosh. “We won’t have it next year, so I don’t see the rush for the report.”

Mayor Lisa Post said there are many other pieces of the Tony Rose facility that are important to the community. And those pieces aren’t in the condition to best serve the community.

“Right now, the answer can’t be borrowing money to put into a pool that we can’t afford to maintain and that we can’t afford to get to the status that the residents of this community, quite honestly, deserve,” Post said.

Council voted to defer the FNAS from next year to 2026, as recommended by staff in a report to council.

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