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The plan to provide a new strategy for swimming and aquatic recreation in Vancouver has been stranded.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has punted the matter to the next board that will be elected in October this year.

Park commissioners with the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) wanted to move forward with amendments to the ‘VanSplash: Vancouver Aquatics Strategy’ prepared by staff.

However, a motion to refer the plan back to staff prevailed, delaying consideration of the strategy dealing with the city’s indoor and outdoor pools, beaches, wading pools, and spray parks until sometime in 2019.

NPA commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung was the one who proposed changes to the staff-prepared VanSplash report.

“I think commissioners honesty just didn’t have the confidence to step up and make some decisions, right?” Kirby-Yung told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “And that to me was really disappointing.”

As a strategy, VanSplash was geared, among others, toward moving away from neighbourhood pools in favour of bigger community and destination facilities.

Kirby-Yung’s amendments, which were seconded by NPA commissioner John Coupar, included striking down recommendations to consider at a later time the decommissioning of two neighbourhood pools: Lord Byng and Templeton.

“Myself and the commissioners that did support the amendments, we think that there is room for a balanced model, where you still have neighbourhood pools that play such an important role in individual communities,” Kirby-Yung said.

According to her, the city doesn’t have to have “only large destination pools that people have to drive to”.

“We think we can have a balance, where we have community pools and neighbourhood pools, and destination facilities,” Kirby-Yung said.

The motion to defer consideration of the plan was opposed by Kirby-Yung, Coupar, and their NPA colleague Casey Crawford.

The commissioners who voted in favour of referring the matter back to staff were Green commissioners Stuart Mackinnon and Michael Wiebe, Catherine Evans of Vision Vancouver, and independent commissioner Erin Shum.

A new report about VanSplash was largely expected to be submitted to the board, but one isn’t coming soon.

On April 5, the board announced that an external advisory body will be formed to help develop a new version of VanSplash. An external facilitator will be named as well.

According to a media release, a new VanSplash will be presented in 2019, which is after the municipal election in October this year.

“You may or may not always agree with a report when it comes before the board, but that is the job, right?” Kirby-Yung said. “And the job of commissioners is they have a lot of options to either vote for a report, to vote against a report, or to bring amendments.”

Completed in 2010, the Hillcrest Aquatic Centre was the last public pool built in the city. CITY OF VANCOUVER

Green commissioner Mackinnon is also the current chair of the park board.

According to Mackinnon, there isn’t a lot of time left for the current board, which he said needs to also deal with other matters.

“We want to make sure that the aquatics strategy meets the public’s wants today, and the needs for the future,” Mackinnon told the Straight in a phone interview. “Aquatics are one of the largest budget items in capital and they have ongoing expenses as well, and so we want to make sure that the decisions that are made are the correct ones for both now and in the future.”

The park board chair was asked if the delay has anything to do with the upcoming civic election.

“If this had happened in 2017, you know, it would take that much time, and so we would be having the new report come out now,” Mackinnon said. “It just happens that VanSplash came out in late 2017. In 2018, the commissioners sent it back.”

According to Mackinnon, it’s “not unusual for large initiatives to go through more than one term”.

Among the amendments suggested by Kirby-Yung in the January 29, 2018 board meeting was a thorough public engagement process in connection with a staff-recommended destination pool in Connaught Park.

The proposed destination pool has generated concerns among local Kitsilano residents who are concerned about the neighbourhood impacts of having a mega pool in their area.

Kitsilano resident Rebecca Lockhart suggests that the delay in the consideration of VanSplash can be seen in either of two ways.

“You can see it as an intention to broaden public input and really ensure the plan does reflect public interest,” Lockhard told the Straight in a phone interview. “But you can also see it as a means of not allowing elected officials to really impact the direction of the strategy.”

Kirby-Yung proposed amendments also included a new outdoor pool in Mount Pleasant.

The Hillcrest Aquatic Centre, which was completed in 2010, was the last public pool built in Vancouver.