Second pool closure puts Vancouver swim club’s season in jeopardy

The Vancouver Aquatic Centre, as seen in 2024. The VAC is currently closed for a $175-million redevelopment project expected to take four to five years. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG

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Vancouver’s oldest competitive swim club was already struggling to find enough pool space for its roughly 240 swimmers when it learned it could lose another pool.

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Canadian Dolphin Swim Club was told Thursday that Britannia pool, where some swimmers were scheduled to train four days a week, would close in November for major repairs to aging infrastructure at East Vancouver’s Britannia Community Centre. The work is part of $17.5 million in capital maintenance funding for the centre and includes upgrades to the pool systems.

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Two days after being hit with the last-minute news, the club learned the city had changed course, pushing the closure to January 2027 and allowing the East Vancouver pool to remain open through the fall swim season.

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“It’s the least they can do,” said Carola Mansfield, treasurer of the Canadian Dolphins.

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The club had already lost nearly 40 per cent of its regular pool space in June after the Vancouver Aquatic Centre closed for a $175-million redevelopment project expected to take four to five years. It forced the swim club to relocate its training to Britannia and Hillcrest pools.

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So when Mansfield got a call from the city just 18 days before training was to get underway, informing her Britannia was going to close for 10 months, she said she was “appalled.”

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Mansfield questioned why the park board allocated pool space to the club in June if it already knew Britannia would soon close, leaving swimmers with less than two months of planned use before the shutdown.

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“Why did they not tell us sooner?” Mansfield asked in an interview with Postmedia.

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The Canadian Dolphins responded by putting out a public call for supporters to write to city officials and ask them to overturn the closure.

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Saturday afternoon, the City of Vancouver told Postmedia it would delay repair work at Britannia until January 2027.

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“Our real estate and facilities management team has adjusted the project schedule to defer the work at Britannia Pool until after the fall swim season,” it said in an email statement.

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“This project is an important investment in the long-term operation of the pool, and postponing the work will help ensure the local clubs and their swimmers can continue to access the facility throughout their season,” the city said.

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The delay gives the club more time at Britannia, but it does not solve Vancouver’s larger shortage of pool space.

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The Canadian Dolphins still need to find pool space for the rest of their season once Britannia closes.

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“There’s simply not enough pool space in Vancouver,” Mansfield said. “When any pool closes for repairs, whether it’s scheduled or unscheduled, swim clubs are out of that space, and there is nowhere else that can absorb displaced aquatic users.”

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Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Scott Jenson has said he is against the closure until the renewal project at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre is completed.

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Jenson acknowledged that decisions about the facility’s repair work are being led by the city, not the park board.

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“I understand the governance arrangement,” Jensen said in a social media post. “But as a commissioner, my responsibility is to make sure the needs of the community are respected.”

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