A new $2.3 million outdoor pool at the Moncton East Youth Community Centre is set to open next month, but as construction nears its end, the concerns from the community seem to be deepening.
With warm weather finally settling in, you might assume the construction of a new outdoor pool in Moncton’s East End would be a welcome development in the neighbourhood. But some residents say that’s not the case.
“Am I glad to see the mess cleaned up? Yes. Am I happy with the design? No.” said Pikey French, director of the Moncton East Youth Community Centre.
Moncton city council approved the $2.3 million funding for the pool last summer, but the project is nearly five years in the making after two pools were removed from the area back in 2013.
The original plan saw the pool at only one metre deep. After protests from the community, the depth was increased to 1.5 metres, but French says she was never consulted about the depth of the pool, and feels it should be much deeper.
“We were expecting to at least maybe be compatible to something you would build in your backyard- maybe 3.3 feet to 6 feet,” explains French.
The pool has no deep end, and no diving allowed, which French is concerned will turn away the teens who currently use the youth centre’s services.
“When you lose them for those summer months, it’s very hard to get them back because their attentions are elsewhere and sometimes it’s not for the best,” says French.
Kathy Forster has lived in Moncton’s East End for 13 years. She says despite the negativity surround he construction of the pool, she and her family are still willing to test the waters.
“They may want something a little bigger that they can move around in, but I think they definitely should give it a try and support something from in their community,” says Forster.
The pool is expected to be open to the public by mid-July, but only time will tell if the new facility will pass the test of the public and either sink, or swim.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Eilish Bonang.
