Hot or cold: Mark Hanna, 54, of Bexley successfully fought for Bexley Pool to be kept open during winter. Picture: Renee Targett
Pool's future murky
BY MARIANNA PAPADAKIS
07 Dec, 2010 08:00 AM
THOUSANDS of Rockdale residents have called for urgent upgrades to Bexley Pool in a petition to Rockdale Council last week.
Mark Hanna, 54, of Bexley who has campaigned for the past two years to have the pool upgraded, said the council had set upgrade milestones a year ago and it needed to be more ‘‘rigorous’’ so that the project did not stall.
He submitted a petition with 4416 signatures on it to Rockdale mayor Bill
Saravinovski calling for the council’s
promised work on the pool to be completed according to the recommendations of the community reference group.
This includes restoration of the 50-metre pool and construction of two new indoor pools by December next year. It also calls for year-round opening.
An independent study found the pool had reached its economic shelf life, and the cost of reconstruction plus a new indoor heated pool and therapy pool would be $10.4 million.
The council voted to commit $80,000 from the Bexley Pool redevelopment fund to investigate the feasibility of relocating the 50- metre pool to the east, depending on the location of existing sewer and stormwater pipes.
The council has already spent $120,000 on feasibility studies including on-site testing, preparation of initial designs, and costings.
A report will come back to council in February on the outcome of these investigations and the possibility of including the project in the 2011-12 operational plan.
Independent councillors Liz Barlow and Yvonne Bellamy raised concerns about the expense of outsourcing further investigations.
Rockdale Council director of city planning and development, Stephen Kerr, said the investigations would require both in-house resources and skills plus outside consultants.
Concept designs and costings for a relocated 50-metre pool and an indoor heated 25-metre pool and program therapy pool (to where the existing amenities and office building are now) would be investigated jointly by the council and consultants, he said.
Mr Hanna said the feasibility studies and designs were delivered six months late, and that any proposal to demolish the existing amenities and office building — which had a $824,240 upgrade only eight years ago — would not please ratepayers.
More articles:
Testing waters at Bexley Pool - 11 Dec 2009
Passion for their pool - 11 Sep 2009
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