Inglewood Pool to close in December after tight Calgary city council vote

After nearly 62 years in the community, the Inglewood Pool will permanently close its doors later this year.

In a narrow 8-7 vote, Calgary city council finalized its 2021 decision to close the aquatic centre Tuesday.

Councillors Andre Chabot, Dan McLean, Sean Chu, Terry Wong, Raj Dhaliwal, Sonya Sharp and Mayor Jyoti Gondek voted against the move.

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, who represents the area, said the discussion around the future of the facility has been ongoing for several years, but the city was left with little options.

“The time and the place for the Inglewood Pool is drawing to a close, and it’s sad,” Carra told reporters.

“But this is a decision that’s being made for very rational and logical reasons.”

Administration recommended accelerating the timeline to close the pool, which is now set to permanently shut down on Dec 22.

Back in 2019, city council voted to close the pool as part of budget cuts across the organization.

City officials said at the time the pool was closing due to low usage and high operational costs.

But as part of council’s decision to fund $45 million for the expansion to the MNP Centre, formerly the Repsol Centre, the Inglewood Pool was set to remain open until those upgrades were complete in 2027.

According to city officials, the shorter timeline would save the city $1.4 million in “immediate repair and operational costs.”

“There’s no risk to safety to customers or staff but there is potential for a full electrical systems failure, rending the facility inoperable and immediately displacing user groups with no ability to relocate them in the short term,” the city’s director of recreation and social programs, Heather Johnson, told council.

An assessment found repairs to the aging infrastructure and electrical system would cost $600,000 and would require the closure of the facility for up to three months to complete.

“If we spent all of that money, we’ll come back and the subsidy would be even higher because of all the money we pumped into it, and the use would still be low,” Carra said.

Residents in the area continued to rally to save the facility, with several showing up to share their thoughts with council during Tuesday’s meeting.

Fiona McKenzie, who spearheaded a rally over the weekend to garner support for keeping the facility open, urged council to vote against closing the pool.

McKenzie asked council to consider the seniors who rely on the facility for aqua fitness classes, the visually impaired who also use the facility for classes, and low-income families in the area.

“For many, walking 45 minutes, scootering in the winter, taking two buses each way for an hour to commute to MNP only to pay double to entrance fee is not a realistic option,” McKenzie said.

During debate, several city councillors raised concerns with the closure of the city-run facility due to previous council decisions.

“Calgarians see these facilities as their tax dollars in action and value of what their hard-earned dollars are paying for,” Sharp said.

Chabot, meanwhile, questioned if it would be in the best interest of the community to close the facility, and added he’d rather wait to make a decision until after administration provided an analysis on “actual capital requirements to maintain this facility for the next two years.”

Gondek noted her voted was swayed when it was revealed there was no imminent risk to public safety if the pool remained open.

“If you had come to us and said there is a very serious public safety concern and we need to shut it down quicker, I would’ve gotten behind this,” Gondek said. “But the fact there’s not really a public safety concern… now I’m torn.”

In her debate, Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian said the city finds itself “in a crisis of public recreation.”

Mian said urged her colleagues who voted against closing the pool while also pushing to lower property taxes to properly fund an upcoming city recreation strategy.

“The same ones who approved driving down the tax rate, which always leads to cuts in recreation, are the same ones who are now saying ‘no, we shouldn’t close it,’” Mian said. “I hope the same people who are going to support not shutting the pool down today are going to show up and fund the GamePLAN Strategy when it comes across your desk.”

GamePLAN, expected to be presented to council early next year, is a strategy to guide recreation services for the next 30 years and includes a facility investment plan.

According to city administration, there will be a public event to celebrate the legacy of the Inglewood Pool before its doors close later this year.

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