‘Nothing short of a disaster’: Swim club stunned by news of another Vancouver pool closure

Vancouver’s oldest competitive swim club says it’s been blindsided by news that another pool it relies on is being closed by the city for the better part of a year.

The Canadian Dolphins Swim Club already lost its home base when the Vancouver Aquatic Centre was shuttered in June ahead of its demolition later this year.

But now a facility the club’s members was reallocated to — Britannia Pool in East Vancouver — is being closed for renovations by the City of Vancouver’s Real Estate and Facilities Management (REFM) division starting in November.

Canadian Dolphins president Jeannie Lo said the club is now scrambling once again to accommodate its 240 members at Vancouver’s ever-shrinking pool facilities.

“It’s nothing short of a disaster,” she said.

“We’ve done all of the coaching assignments, all of the allocations for our training groups, and now we’re going back to the drawing board.”

Making matters worse, Lo says the club was only told of the Britannia closure on Thursday, 18 days before the new swim season begins.

“Why are user groups only being told now?” asked Lo.

The upheaval is just the latest for the 70-year-old club that had already lost 40 per cent of its cityallocated pool time when the Aquatic Centre closed its doors.

In an email addressed to Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, city council members and Park Board commissioners, the club asks the politicians to “step up and stand up” for pool users by stopping the Britannia closure.

“Improvements of this scale must have been planned for months, if not years, but the Park Board still allocated space at Britannia Pool in June,” it reads. 

“The timing of this closure could not be worse. The lack of aquatic facilities in the City of Vancouver is astounding,” the email continues. “The lack of concern by the REFM, and any body to whom they may be accountable, for the consequences of closing yet another pool while the [Vancouver Aquatic Centre] is offline for 4-5 years is appalling.”

CBC News reached out to Mayor Sim and Park Board Chair Tom Digby for an interview, but neither were available by deadline.  

Lo said if Britannia closes, the Canadian Dolphins could be forced to cut swimmers and coaches.

“It would be extremely devastating but we may have to consider that. Of course, that is the last thing we want to do,” she said.