Surrey residents demand City reopen indoor pools amid pandemic

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – As pools and recreation centres open across the province, some cities are holding back.

Surrey is one of the many communities in B.C. with closed recreation centers. It has no reopening date, despite some disappointment from competitive swimmers and those hoping to catch a dip in local pools.

Without a reopening date from the city, local aquatic groups have put together a plan in hopes of getting one facility open, but the city isn’t quite ready to dive in.

Alex Lasinsky is the father of two competitive divers and says it’s been nearly four months since his children were able to practice their diving at the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre in South Surrey.

That facility closed due to the pandemic, forcing the children to try practicing wherever they get the chance, including their handstands out in public parks.

Now Lasinskyi, on behalf of a number of Surrey aquatic groups, is asking the city to open at least one location to Surrey’s swimming and diving clubs so they can resume practice.

“I am the lucky father of two high-performance sports kids and we basically live in this pool,” he says. “If you bring all the aquatic sports clubs in one facility would be a huge revenue generator for the city, thousands and thousands of dollars but unfortunately there’s no indication that the city is going to take this seriously.”

One city councillor says the problem does appear to be centered on the city’s budget.

“It’s very unfortunate we are running a defect of just over $42-million and in order to make up the shortfall all of the arenas, seniors centers and aquatic centers have all been closed since September,” Linda Annis says. ” The one thing that wasn’t missed was the police transition budget and that is proceeding as usual at a cost of $129 million. Everyone has been waiting for these facilities to open up and it’s time that we do it now.”

Annis suggests the issue goes beyond just getting one pool open, she wants to take a second look at the city’s entire budget, to find money not only for Grandview but all recreational facilities.

Lasinskyi has sent a commercial proposal to the city, suggesting reopening the pool to clubs would generate $122,000 in revenue monthly. Of that revenue, more than $65,000 would be profit, but he’s yet to get a response.