Reports of shutting down the Sir Max Aitken Pool at the University of New Brunswick are false, according to David Saad, the university’s facilities operations manager.
Despite this, the city is still looking into building a new indoor pool for Fredericton.
“As far as I know, there were never any plans to decommission the pool,” said Saad. He doesn’t know where reports saying otherwise would have come from.
He says there are plans to refurbish the pool if funding can be obtained.
The pool has been in service for about 40 years and is heavily used. In addition to being the home of the UNB Varsity Reds, it is the training location of the Fredericton Aquanaut Swim Team (FAST) and is also open to members of URec – the Currie Center gym – and the public, including students at St. Thomas University. It costs $10 for a day pass.
STU doesn’t have a swim team, and none of the teams use the pool for training, but STU’s director of athletics Mike Eagles says that could change in the future.
“We’re always looking for possible options for varsity teams,” said Eagles.
“We look at sports that have potential to bring students to STU, so having a swimming club down the road is something we’d look at.”
Councillor Steven Hicks says the city has been conducting feasibility surveys on building a new pool. There have been public meetings, site visitations as well as a comment form on the city’s website. They received around 400 comments.
The city hopes to have all the initial consultation work finished by next spring.
Fredericton has only three indoor pools – one on the Northside, one in the new YMCA building on York Street, and the one at UNB.
Hicks says the construction of a new pool has been part of the city’s master plan for a while. Funding will come mainly from the city, but they are looking into partnerships as well, including with both of the universities.
“We certainly hope that they would partner with us,” said Hicks, citing construction and operating costs.
STU spokesman Jeffrey Carleton says the university would look at providing funds for the pool, while keeping the university’s athletic and overall plans in mind. Eagles would also consider it.
“If the city puts a pool at say, Grant-Harvey, there’s no reason why we wouldn’t explore that option,” said Eagles.
“We have a very strong swim team here in Fredericton, and there’s young athletes looking for the opportunity to swim at the varsity level.”
