Outdoor pools: Does Vancouver have enough? Need more? If so, where? And where’s the money?

Only outdoor pool in East Vancouver at New Brighton Park, Open until Sept 1st

The City of Vancouver only has five outdoor public pools. All of them closed for the season before the final weekend of summer this year (Sept 20-21). Could these pools be put to greater use? Should the Park Board look into expanding hours and into replacing pools that have been closed in recent years?

The only outdoor pool in East Vancouver is located in New Brighton Park; this pool was closed for the 2014 season on September 1st. The only outdoor supervised beach in East Vancouver is at Trout Lake (1 out of 9 beaches in the City). The east side is home to more than half of the population of Vancouver. Is there a reason why this half of the city is inadequately served during the summer? (With one of five outdoor pools, and one of nine public beaches.) Can the Park Board work to rectify this imbalance?

There appears to be no budget allocated for new outdoor pools in the $1.085 Billion 2015-2018 Draft Capital Plan. The City is proposing to spend $125 million on parks, open spaces and recreation over the next four years. The Vancouver Society for the Promotion of Outdoor Pools would like to see part of the upcoming Capital Plan allocated to new outdoor pools and outdoor aquatic activities (details here).

Included below are photos of several pools across the city. This year Kitsilano Pool was open until September 14th.