City council dove into difficult waters Monday during a debate on opening up Servus Place to swimming lessons, ultimately deciding to move forward with the plan.
The Landrex Water Play Centre at Servus Place has been a spontaneous-use facility since it first opened to the public in 2006 and was designed as a leisure pool. Come September, swimmers will need to share that space with lessons during hours when the pool is less full.
The decision to hold swimming lessons at Servus Place split council 4-3 with Coun. Sheena Hughes, Coun. Wes Brodhead, Coun. Ray Watkins and Coun. Jacquie Hansen in favour and Mayor Cathy Heron, Coun. Ken MacKay and Coun. Natalie Joly against.
The debate on Monday hinged on what effect swimming lessons would have on the spontaneous nature of Servus Place, with Hughes arguing swimming lessons would not eliminate spontaneous use of the pool.
"I'm talking about having one or two classes that would not interfere with the majority of the pool space," she said, suggesting swimming lessons could be held Saturday mornings around 9 a.m. and weekdays between 4 and 5 p.m. if those times are found to have low usage.
Prior to debate, councillors received presentations from Glenn Wilson, who has been a swim club coach in St. Albert for decades, and Wendy Nelson, a former swim instructor whose children previously attended swimming lessons in the city. Both spoke strongly in favour of the proposal to include swimming lessons at Servus Place.
The motion was prompted by pressures on St. Albert's pools, where 929 people are on a wait list to get into swimming lessons. On Monday, recreation and parks director Diane Enger said approximately 60 per cent of those are St. Albert residents and 57 per cent are currently enrolled in other swimming lessons but are on the wait list in the hope of securing a better day or time.
In the fall of 2017, the city opened up 39 additional swim classes at Fountain Park Pool and saw a 91 per cent uptake, reducing the wait list from just over 1,200.
However, city staff noted the proposal to hold swimming lessons at Servus Place could be difficult. Last week, city aquatics manager Shaun Percival told the Gazette that some barriers include the shape and design of the Landrex Water Play Centre pool, as well as the distance from the water to the top of the pool wall, which can be too high for some smaller children.
Heron and Joly arguing the introduction of swimming lessons would go against what the facility was built for, with Joly adding Servus Place does not have the proper facilities for staff and the logistics of holding one or two swimming lessons could be difficult to manage.
"If we had more than one person teaching swimming lessons – it just was not built for that. It should have been built for that, but it wasn't," Joly said.
Heron, who voted against a similar motion during her last term as councillor, pointed to the fact that some swim classes at Fountain Park have had to be cancelled in the past due to low uptake despite more than 900 people on the wait list. She said people who bought memberships to Servus Place did so expecting it to be a spontaneous-use facility.
"To pass this motion would take away spontaneous swim of my kids and my neighbour's kids, and just goes against what (Servus Place) was built for," she said.
Brodhead and Hansen said the motion would help to alleviate some of the pressures on Fountain Park Pool while council treads water on building a new pool.
"When a community is on the edge of requiring new facilities, you have to think uniquely for a period of time," Brodhead said.
"I understand the necessity of spontaneous use – I just think when our facilities are under stress, we have to share the facility."
In supporting the motion, both Brodhead and Hansen said they would look forward to revisiting the decision once a new pool is open.
