Supporters scratching heads after City turns down offer to keep St. Boniface pool open

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The members of The Friends of Happyland Pool were left scratching their heads after City Hall turned down their plan to save the much-loved facility despite now having the funds to keep it open.

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The group – a self-described collective of resident groups and not-for-profit organizations – raised $85,000 with the hope to keep the pool open for at least another summer.

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“Now that we have the full $85,000, we’re hoping that we can open up another dialogue (with City Hall) and say, ‘Now that we have this,’ ” said area resident and Friends of Happyland Pool member Michelle Berger. “We’re trying to contact the mayor and ask to maybe give us another go at this. We’ve had a lot of community support.”

The St. Boniface pool is slated to close after the city’s Community Services Committee voted earlier this month not to pass along a motion to Executive Policy Committee recommending the City accept the $85,000.

The money was raised in less than two months, after the City multi-year budget called for closing the pool alongside two others.

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The Friends of Happyland Pool received donations and pledges from individuals and diverse groups including: $22,500 from Manitoba Métis Federation, $15,000 from Réseau Compassion Network, $15,000 from Olexa Developments, $10,000 from the provincial government thanks to MLA Robert Loiselle (St. Boniface) and over $22,500 from individuals and businesses in the neighbourhood.

Berger said they estimated it would cost around $85,000 to operate the pool for one summer, based on numbers provided in a March 25 email from Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface) which indicated “operational costs over four years amount to $328,000.”

“There hasn’t been very specific information and nobody corrected him so we assumed that was the cost and we went with that and hoping for further dialogue about it,” said Berger.

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In an email to the Winnipeg Sun, Allard said he opposed the original budget which had Happyland and Windsor Park pools were slated for demolition. The Windsor Park pool is now slated to be open for two more summers to coincide with a $10-million renewal of Bonivital Pool expected to take two years. Windsor Park was chosen to remain open due to a much higher attendance relative to Happyland. Windsor Park averages about 9,000 visitors a year while Happyland averages about 4,000. As well, the walking distance from Bonivital Pool to Windsor Park pool is about a 20-minute walk as opposed to Happyland Pool taking about twice the amount of time (38 minutes).

In addition to this, council also amended the budget to include $50,000 for a consultation regarding the future of pools in St. Boniface. The consultation is for determining the investment in a new pool, Allard said.

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A new $10 million pool is proposed for St. Boniface similar to the Transcona aquatic centre.

“Given what is happening to pools in St. Boniface, as city councillor a new pool is one of my top priorities,” said Allard. “With the ambitious nature of this project, I expect it will be for years to come.”

Berger said they wonder why Happyland Pool could not be spared at least until the new pool in constructed.

“We’re just really asking for one summer right so we have time to explore options for the pool and if it pans out, great,” said Berger. “We’re told even through the public consultation for the budget that the pool itself is not in bad shape. Maybe it needs some work, everything needs upkeep that’s been put off. We’ve been told it could last five to 10 years so it’s still good infrastructure that could fill the gap before a new facility is built which is what is being planned.

“But as we can see these kind of big things take a long time and they don’t run on the schedule that they plan.”

Supporters have started a petition on change.org to convince City Hall to change its mind and are asking people to write to Mayor Scott Gillingham to keep the pool open.

Berger compares the situation to the St. Vital Pool which was slated to be closed 20 years ago and it was saved due to community support.

“Later down the road there was money to fix it,” said Berger. “It’s a very popular pool and you’d be hard-pressed to get in there sometimes.”

gdawkins@postmedia.com

X: @SunGlenDawkins

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