Farewell Scona Pool: City to close 65-year-old facility Monday

The fight to keep Scona Pool open in Old Strathcona will soon be over, after 12 years of struggle between community members and the City of Edmonton.

The city is closing the pool permanently on Oct. 3.

City council voted in late August to pull the plug on the 65-year-old facility, after hearing from administration that the structural deficiencies would cost at least $6 million to fix.

The city posted a building condition assessment report on its website last week, following a survey done of the building's exterior and interior areas in July, showing the heating plant and heat exchanger stopped working.

Most of the stalling bricks on the exterior have been fenced off from public access, the report says, but consultants recommended the entrance be blocked off as well for safety reasons.

Seniors left out

Elaine Solez, chair of the community group Friends of Scona Rec, said closing the pool will leave some in the lurch.

"There are seniors with some mobility issues who don't feel they can go to another pool, they don't drive anymore, much," she said. "They feel their swimming days are over and it's very sad to hear things like that."

Norm Shandro, now in his 80s, had been going to the pool three to five times a week for 15 years and thinks the city closing it now is poor planning.

"I am very unhappy about it closing without having some sort of replacement," he said.

The city has suggested three alternatives: the Kinsmen Sports, Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre and Confederation Leisure Centre, all within a 15-minute drive from Scona, requiring a vehicle for most to access.

"It is not a replacement at all," he said. "Get more people on the roads, that's all it does."

Swimmers from Strathcona High School joined the most recent plea to keep the pool open when they spoke to council at an executive meeting at city hall Aug. 24.

Kirby Feng, a volunteer coach with the Scona swim team for 24 years, said the city is offering alternative practice space at the Kinsmen Sports Centre, which is about 3.5 kilometres away, meaning it'll be about a 10-minute car drive or 20-minute bus ride from the school.

He and swim captains are trying to organize carpool options for kids who don't have a way there.

"I hope that even with the difficulty of now an extra layer of travel and time, that these kids will still want to be a part of Scona swim team," Feng said. "I think the swim team is bigger than any one person, any facility."

Rollie Miles ahead

Community residents had been lobbying the city to keep the pool open since 2009.

Julie Kusiek, a former Queen Alexandra community league member, chair of Friends of Scona Rec and mother of four, said residents have presented their case to city councils over the past 12 years.

Kusiek, now an Edmonton Public School Board trustee, said a lot of community power went into saving Scona Pool and then later, pushing for a replacement — the Rollie Miles Recreation Centre.

"So how are we going to keep that heart alive and those connections alive between now and when Rollie Miles does get built?" she told CBC News Friday.

"We're hoping council understands that and knows that there's a huge void here and it needs to get built as soon as possible."

The city approved preliminary design money for the envisioned Rollie Miles Recreation Centre, but the facility needs capital investment.

Advocates like Solez are now turning attention to the next facility.

"My goal is to keep pressing on the new rec centre and encourage others to join in that effort," Solez said.

She hopes that this fall, the city will suggest a capital budget amount to move the Rollie Miles project forward.

"We're trying to keep that front and centre so that doesn't drop to the back burner and get ignored for years and years," Solez said.