Advocates march to save 50-metre pool at Vancouver Aquatic Centre
Posted March 29, 2025 2:11 pm.
Some users of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre (VAC) are pushing back against a Vancouver Park Board report that recommends decreasing the size of the building’s largest pool from 50 to 25 metres.
A march took place outside the centre Saturday morning to help save the current pool, which is one of the few facilities in the Lower Mainland that houses an Olympic-sized tank.
The current pool, which has been around for half a century, is in need of being replaced. The aging structure has had many issues, including having concrete chunks of the roof falling into the pool in 2024.
The proposed $170-million project at the VAC includes the smaller pool, as well as a leisure pool, new dive towers, and a modern fitness centre. According to the park board, the current 50-metre pool doesn’t meet modern standards for competition or accessibility.
The report to staff, which will be voted on Monday, suggests building the smaller pool in the new facility or holding off until funding is available for a bigger one.
Advocates for the bigger tank told 1130 NewsRadio earlier this week that the move, if approved, would decimate the club and have a big impact on the community.
Jennie Lo with the Canadian Dolphin Swim Club says the facility is used by world-class swimmers, and shortening the pool would be like asking Olympic-calibre hockey players to practise on half a rink.
“Right out of the gate, the needs of that pool, the needs of that new facility, will not accommodate the community,” Lo said.
“The community has said that they need a 50-metre tank, and to reduce it by half is reducing that capacity by a very huge margin and displacing many of the user groups that are currently tenants of the VAC.”
Lo says 68 of the 70 speakers who spoke at a recent park board hearing called on commissioners to keep the larger pool. She says many of them will be back on Monday when the board considers the staff report.
The Vancouver Aquatic Centre has been around since the 1970s.
— With files from Dean Recksiedler and Joe Sadowski
