Does Airdrie need more indoor swimming pools?

For a city of 61,000 people, it is surprising that there is just one indoor pool.  Genesis Place, located on the city’s south east quadrant by East Lake, north of Big Springs.

The facility has more than one pool, however the way it’s designed there are limited areas to hold lessons, therefore there are a limited number of people the recreational complex can host in the pool.

However, there is a campaign underway by the City of Airdrie to gauge interest in having more swimming pools in the city.  The City wants feedback from citizens so it can understand how large the need is and what type of programs people in Airdrie want.

The poll is being conducted because anytime registration for programs at Genesis Place opens up, they are filled immediately.  Some parents have complained that even though they set their alarm clocks to ensure they’d be first inline to register their children for fall swimming lessons, they missed out.

With children’s lessons in particular, it’s important to keep continuity between each level.  For some parents who working during the day, the classes offered in prime time at 5:30 pm and later are the only times that work and these are the classes that fill as soon as they’re offered.  Not every swim class at every hour is completely full say Genesis Place staff – just peak times are consistently at capacity.

For others, the only option is to register their kids in lessons in Calgary.

With one pool insufficient for the needs of Airdrie families, parents are urging the City to start now because the need will only be greater in the future. As it is, Genesis Place schedules 10,000 swimming lessons annually.

City of Airdrie director of corporate services, Lucky Wiwcharuk, told Airdrie media that the city is open to building a new pool but the soonest it could come up for deliberation in council would be during the 2017 budget discussion.  The City has received plenty of feedback from the public and has recently opened a page on their website for community discussion.  The “Look Closer” survey on the Airdrie.ca website includes questions about recreational programming and use of pool space in the City.  Councillors hope to gather as much information as possible by October.

Wiwcharuk believes that a new pool can be constructed in three years after approval is given by Council and the project is put out to tender.

Alternative pool space around Airdrie

With Calgary City Limits just 10 minutes south of the city, there are several community and city-operated Aquatic and Fitness Facilities within easy reach of Airdrie.  Those include:

North West

• Thornhill Aquatic and Fitness Centre – 6715 Centre Street North
• Sir Winston Churchill Aquatic and Fitness Centre – 1520 Northmount Drive NW
• Shouldice Aquatic Centre – 5303 Bowness Rd NW
• Melcor YMCA Crowfoot – 8100 John Laurie Blvd NW

North East

• Village Square Leisure Centre – 2623 – 52 St NE
• Vivo for Healthier Generations – 11950 Country Village Link NE
• Genesis Centre/Saddletown YMCA – 7555 Falconridge Blvd NE

Didsbury

Didsbury Swimming Pool – 1702 – 21 Avenue

Cochrane

Spray Lakes Sawmill Family Sports Centre – 800 Griffin Road East