City to wait and see on Rotary Pool

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

The city will be playing a waiting game with Rotary Pool, as it has become clear the pool won’t be opening in the next year.

At the most recent city council meeting, councillors voted in favour of monitoring and applying for any grants which might come up at both the provincial and federal levels to help pay for the rehabilitation of Rotary Pool.

An amendment from Ward 1 City Councillor Rosemary McConkey also asked staff to investigate what constitutes “shovel ready,” as it is a requirement for many potential grants.

She also wants staff to investigate sponsorship funding options.

Ward 5 City and Regional Councillor Brian Nicholson added an amendment as well. He asked staff to investigate cost efficient options for residents in the area of Rotary Pool to find their way to other aquatic recreational areas in Oshawa.

Nicholson says he wants to make sure residents in the area of Rotary Pool are still able to have the option to swim.

Ward 4 City and Regional Councillor Rick Kerr was one of two councillors to vote no to Nicholson’s amendment.

“We already have a cost effective method of transporting people to the pool they would like to go to,” he says.

He explains transit can pick any resident up and take them to any pool around the city.

However, while both of those amendments ultimately passed, one was quickly rejected by councillors.

Ward 2 City Councillor Jane Hurst wanted to add an amendment asking staff to look into how much it would cost to remove the pool from Rotary Park and simply turn it back into parkland.

This was met with resistance as several councillors voiced their intent to vote against her amendment.

“I think it sends the most terrible message to the residents in that area,” says Nicholson, who doesn’t want residents to think removing the pool is even a possibility. He says it gives residents the wrong impression and doesn’t believe it should even be an option.

Ward 1 City and Regional Councillor John Neal says he will never vote to have a pool permanently closed. “I don’t care where that pool is,” he says.

He also says he doesn’t believe there is any real replacement for a pool.

“I’m going to tell you, splash pads don’t replace pools. Children don’t learn to swim in a splash pad,” he says.

Nicholson’s Ward 5 counterpart John Gray also spoke out against the amendment.

“I don’t want to give people the impression that there’s not an intention from council to do something at Rotary Pool if there’s an option,” he says.

While defending her amendment, Hurst says she isn’t against having a pool at Rotary Park, but says it’s a “housekeeping issue.”

“I am not looking to close the pool. I am looking to preserve an asset, which is parkland,” she says.