Neighbourhood group slams city for lack of transparency in recommending closure of Thames Pool
The Old South Community Organization (OSCO) is expressing concern about city staff’s failure to consult with stakeholders before recommending that Thames Pool be decommissioned.
“The lack of process and opportunity to voice concerns or examine viable remedial options on this proposal is disheartening,” reads a news release by OSCO. “As a result, many people are now expressing a lack of confidence in the city’s ability to operate in a fully transparent and consultative manner.”
A report to council’s Community and Protective Services Committee on March 14 describes serious structural damage that will prevent the pool from opening this summer, and city staff recommend its permanent decommissioning and replacement with a spray pad.
Five options for the future of Thames Pool were considered:
- Conducting minimum repairs ($375,000)
- Extensive repairs ($600,000)
- Rehabilitation ($4 million)
- Rebuild ($12 million)
- Decommission
The future of the pool is up to city council, but the neighbourhood group said a key piece of information is missing.
“Voting on a report which omits the cost of the recommended option is not appropriate in any capacity,” the release said.
The pool underwent redevelopment from 2009 to 2010.
“We question whether poor design, engineering, and/or construction contributed to the need for greater repairs after the reconstruction of the facility in 2010,” reads the news release.
OSCO wants council to take three steps:
- Enact the report’s first option facilitating minimum repairs
- Seek all available financial options at municipal, provincial, and federal levels
- An examination of the 2010 reconstruction (engineering plans, construction details, initial and final reports) by an independent impartial consulting engineer and subject matter expert
Since 1975, the OSCO has been a member-run volunteer organization dedicated to protecting and improving the quality of life in the Old South neighbourhood and the city.
The Community and Protective Services Committee will consider the staff report at a meeting on March 21 at 4:15 p.m. in council chambers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.