The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District Aquatics Outreach team ramped up public engagement over replacement of Echo Pool with a pair of open houses on Wednesday, May 31.
An online survey launched prior to the open houses garnered hundreds of responses from people both in the City of Port Alberni and to a lesser extent the ACRD.
The first half of both events was an open house, where members of the public could chat with ACRD staff and HCMA Architecture + Design staff about possibilities for a new pool. The open house included a number of interactive activities. Visitors could use coloured chips to “vote” on their top priorities for a new pool—for example, swimming for fun versus swimming competitively or for exercise.
“It’s an opportunity for people to share their feedback,” explained Darin Harding, director of community and sport projects with HCMA. “At this point we’re looking for high-level feedback—what do people see as important in an aquatic facility? We want to learn the different types of needs a community might have.”
People also had an opportunity to provide feedback via sticky notes left on poster boards. Some of the sticky notes offered suggestions—for example, a walking path along the outside of the pool facility. Other notes expressed concern about the current lack of staff at the Echo Aquatic Centre.
Many notes expressed a desire for the ACRD to speed up the process: “Less talk, more action” or “Just get it done already.”
The second half of the events featured a “world cafe” setup where people were given questions about the pool to discuss.
The open houses took place simultaneously at Echo Centre and Cherry Creek Community Hall.
According to ACRD communications coordinator Heather Thomson, 41 people in total came through both open houses.
Regional district CAO Daniel Sailland said he was happy with the number of online surveys that had been filled out—about 850 prior to the open houses, with some paper surveys dropped off the same day. The survey will remain open on the ACRD’s website, www.letsconnectacrd.ca, under the Alberni Valley Aquatics Outreach link until June 15. Sailland said the aquatics committee would ideally like to see 1,000 or more surveys filled in.
For those who don’t wish to fill out an electronic survey, paper copies will be available at the ACRD office at 3008 Fifth Ave. and Echo Pool and Echo Centre, both located at 4255 Wallace St.
The survey and open houses are the first phase in the aquatic centre conversation, Sailland said. Public engagement is an “important step that’s going to help us identify what are those key areas in the vision for aquatics,” and what design elements do people envision.
“When we get to the fall, that’s where the more prickly discussion will occur because that’s when we’re going to talk about options, the cost of those options and the financing models and governance that goes with that.”
Sailland said many people have been asking how much a new pool will cost, but said cost cannot be determined before having a vision “that’s somewhat close” to what people are looking for in a new pool.
The ACRD’s Aquatics Outreach team has been transparent about the study that was done in 2011, including a link on its website for people to read. Sailland defended the decision to go through the visioning process again.
“The last vision was 2011. A lot has changed,” he said. “Statistically through the census, we know that we’ve seen an influx of a lot of new people coming to the Valley. The difference here as well is that we want to make sure that the rural areas are an active part of this.
“The finance model that we have for partaking in aquatics in the Alberni Valley is one which is over 20 years old and hasn’t changed,” he added.
Costs have also drastically changed, and the ACRD wants people to know the real cost as well as what it might be in terms of full collaboration, he added.
The consultants from HCMA will collate responses from the public engagement sessions; this will in turn go to the ACRD board, city council and First Nations partners as well as the public. Both design and location will be discussed in the next phase, Sailland explained.
Once a design option is chosen and a finance model is decided upon, the issue would go to referendum. A referendum has to happen if a new service model is chosen, or if borrowing is necessary to fund the project, he added.
Where would a new aquatic centre go?
Location has to be factored into the discussion, Sailland said. “There’s a number of different locations where a new facility could land, including the existing location. But it’s important to remember that if we use the existing location, we’re likely going to have a five-year window where we’re completely shut down. And in that window, you’re going to lose staff and it’s going to be very hard to bring people back.”
He said it’s easier to plan for an alternate location, even if it’s right beside the existing centre. “Our preference would be to keep everything running and build a separate facility.
“This current facility we’re talking about is 60 years old and it hasn’t been invested in…we’re on borrowed time if something drastic occurs and we’re looking at a three- or four-million-dollar repair.”
Sailland expects the visioning process will take the rest of the year.
