City of Fredericton supports aquatics centre attached to Grant Harvey

The City of Fredericton is supporting a new aquatics centre that would be built onto theGrant Harvey Centre.

It is one of the options outlined in a feasibility study commissioned by Regional Service Commission 11. The other would be a new building nearby.

The feasibility study recommended a new building on the west side of the Abony Family Tennis Centre, near the Vanier Highway.

However, the estimated cost of adding onto the Grant Harvey Centre is about $38.5 million $3.5 million less than building a new centre.

The aquatics community has been working to get a new poolsince 2017, when the closure of the Max Aitken pool was announced.

Mayor Mike O'Brien said the decision makes financial and logistical sense, because it will allow the new aquatics centreto access services at Grant Harvey.

"And it's on land that we currently have under a long-term lease with the University of New Brunswick," said O'Brien.

"So the city would control the land through the lease agreement with UNB. The operating costs should be less per year."

The operating costs are expected to be about $750,000.

"That's significant because that's money that has to be spent every year," O'Brien said. "And whatever our proper contribution to that would be after a regional project is put together is still significant."

Fredericton is among the first partners to sign on to the regional project and has committed $6 million. The University of New Brunswick would also be a partner.

"We're basically getting the ball rolling," said Jeff Trail, the deputy chief administrative officer.

"We felt it was important as a large partner and one that the community group would be looking to for some leadership to be first to set our position and to respond to the feasibility study in a timely way."

Trail said the timing for the project is dependent on other partners and levels of government.

"The clock is ticking on the Sir Max Aiken Pool," he said. "The agreement that we have in place right now expires in the fall of this year. So clearly there won't be a facility before that agreement expires."

Trail said the city will have discussions with the university about that timeline.