The election is over and the new council is sworn in and now the holding to promises begins. The central Alberta Aquatic Centre wants a new 50m pool to be the top of the list of priorities for the new council, and hold fast to keeping it in the 10 year capital plan.
It has been reported in the local news; “The city’s capital plan has the pool scheduled for construction in 2021, with the design phase of a “multi-use aquatic centre” coming in 2019. The 10-year capital plan has the design budgeted at $9.315 million and the centre budgeted for $79.536 million over 2021 and 2022.”
This budget is based on 2013 dollars and does not include the demolition and preparatory work. This is not the first time or even the second time that this group pleaded with a new council to proceed towards building a 50m pool.
In 2011, city council approved Red Deer Rotary Recreation Park as the location for the facility featuring a 50-metre pool that would finally allow the city to host national competitions.
Council had previously approved $200,000 for a concept and business design at its 2010 budget meeting. Work was completed in 2011.
November 18 2013. News story: “ after 6 years-Central Alberta Aquatic centre supporters hope they are getting closer to swimming in the Olympic-sized pool they have been promoting over the past six years.”
The project goes before Red Deer City Council at the city’s 2014 Capital Budget Meeting on Nov. 26.
“This is the first time it’s actually on the agenda. This is, we think, the best shot we’ve had,” said John Cuthbertson, committee chair of the Central Alberta Aquatic Centre.
In advance of the budget meeting, Central Alberta Aquatic Centre is hosting a public meeting to provide an update on the proposed project on Tuesday, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., at the Black Knight Inn.
Construction is estimated at $90 million but Cuthbertson said it doesn’t have to cost that much.
The plan features 10 50-metre lanes and a hydraulic floor and bulk heads to divide the pool.
“That means you can have three 25-metre pools, or you can have the 10 lanes, or you can have a combination.
November 19 2013-Members of the public filled the room during an information session about the proposed $90 million aquatic centre, which will include an Olympic-sized pool, in Red Deer.
Questions included concerns over parking space, how traffic downtown would be impacted. Staff from the Central Alberta Aquatic Centre committee presented the update at the Black Knight Inn to almost 100 people, noting that “the time is now” for Red Deer to build the 50-metre pool and meet the standards to host provincial and national competitions.
A video showcased the strain on Red Deer facilities and how the city is lacking compared to Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, two cities that have recently completed new aquatic centres complete with 50-metre pools.
According to Cuthbertson there are sometimes seven people swimming in one 25-metre lane in Red Deer and over 750 people are on waiting lists for swimming lessons every year.
While Red Deer does have four pools, the space for aquatics and the number of lanes available in those pools doesn’t add up when it compares to the city’s consistently growing population, he said.
Red Deer’s current population results in about 5,327 people per swimming lane given the current facilities. There are 2,728 people per lane in Medicine Hat and 2,293 people per lane in Grande Prairie.
With the proposed aquatic centre, that number would be reduced by at least half, said Brian Gallaway, public relations chair of the committee.
The $90 million price tag is also subject to change, said committee members, as it was the original estimate

December 4 2013-
Red Deer’s new City council appears to be a little hesitant to test the waters of a new aquatic centre and so the discussion will continue for another year after council decided to not include the centre in this year’s budget.
For supporters of the facility, this step backwards is not something new in the more than five years this project has been worked on.
“We’ve been on the budget twice and taken off twice and so we’ve had our share of ups and downs,” said Central Alberta Aquatic Centre Committee Chair John Cuthbertson.
There is a solid plan in place following a $200,000 grant from the City to bring something to the table to work from and use the current space where the Recreation Centre pool is located, he said. “We aren’t going to be wasting this (Recreation Centre) by tearing it down or anything else of that nature. This will be part and parcel of the centre itself and we will extend south.”
Cuthbertson said the funding for the centre would be gleaned from the various levels of government including the surrounding counties whose residents would also benefit from this facility.
“Then we’re going to be able to say to the taxpayer, we have you in mind, we’re not going to overburden you. It’s certainly going to cost something but rest assured it’s going to be as low as we can get it.”
There have been some estimates of the cost ranging around $90 million but committee members have said that number includes some extras The design does include 10, 50m lanes for swimming, a dive tank and moveable bulk heads in order to close off areas so groups can hold different events.
“We have a very good start (referring to the design), it’s much more than just a bunch of pictures. I’m sure the architectural firm would be ready to start the actual drawings and that sort of thing as soon as we want to.”
Cuthbertson said even with Red Deer being the third largest city in the province we are lacking when it comes to servicing our residents with aquatic space .
“The other night at our meeting it was mentioned that there are 732 people, I think children, on the waiting list to get into swim lessons. Now that has to say something.”
The other side of the coin is the argument from those opposed to the centre who feel a major facility like this one would not be used enough to make it worth the money spent on it.
“That was so, I’m sure, for the Centrium, certainly for Collicutt,” he said, about the project which he describes as a community effort to be the best we can and this centre would accomplish that.
As an example he pointed to a similar centre in Nanaimo B.C. which was built after citizens voted on a plebiscite to go ahead with the project.
“He said (a town official) we won it by one per cent and he said look at it now. It was full and he said it’s always full. People don’t know what they would do without it. I suspect that’s going to happen here.”
Maybe, but not right away at least.
April 15, 2014. An AD-Hoc Committee was created to determine the need for an Aquatic Centre and a 50 m pool.
July 4 2014 Three years after Rotary Recreation Park was earmarked as a potential site for an estimated $90-million aquatic centre, a committee is bringing forward another proposal to council on Monday.
The Red Deer Multi-Use Aquatic Centre Ad Hoc Committee is recommending a $74.6-million facility with a 54-metre indoor pool ($71.1 million) and a 25-metre outdoor leisure pool ($3.5 million) at the downtown site.

The new ad hoc committee reportedly determined that the site was the best fit, followed by Michener Centre and an undetermined greenfield site (undeveloped), based on the information available and guiding principles. Some committee members suggested a north site near Hazlett Lake as a potential greenfield site. The committee was told at the time there were no new sites available to build on and the city did not own the Michener Pool so that left only one possibility at the time, leaving no other option, at that time.

December 9 2015-Advocate- Pool advocate Jack Cuthbertson is passing the torch in the fight to build an aquatic centre in Red Deer. “Cuthbertson stepped down in frustration recently as board chair of the Central Alberta Aquatics Centre group after eight years.”
“It gets a bit frustrating to deal with a council that won’t do anything,” said Cuthbertson.
Cuthbertson is not convinced the pool will become a reality until the money is on the table. The city has the pool inked in the capital plan for construction starting in 2020 and completion in 2022. Some $93.9 million is allocated in funding over three years.
“How much more will the price go up five years from now?” said Cuthbertson.
When the city decided to build the Collicutt Centre it was in part because it was felt that the city’s population of 55,000 required a 4th pool so amid controversy the Collicutt Centre was built to supply a need and to kick start development in the southeast.
Today with a population of just under 100,000 we still have only 4 pools. Why not build a Collicutt Centre with a 50 m pool to supply a need and kick start development north of 11a.
October 24 2017, Swimmers are still waiting. Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray, and Lethbridge has 50m pools. The need is there, opportunities are there. Land is available that would provide exposure and parking that the downtown cannot supply. We do not need to tear down one pool to build another, we have land available, that would be highly visible to Hwy 2 and provide the space for parking for competitions and fill a need for residents. Time to stop talking and act. I think so, don’t you.