Grand Manan Make Plans To Move Ahead With Public Swimming Pool Plans

Grand Manan Town Council discussed plans for the Victoria Park swimming pool and proposed splash pad. Despite having a relatively small population, Grand Manan has historically had an active recreational scene with many public facilities. The island's outdoor supervised public pool, located at Victoria Parl on the right on Foster Road in Grand Harbour just before St. Paul's Anglican Church, has been closed awaiting renovations. Victoria Park is also home to a children's playground, tennis courts, baseball field and picnic area.

"I can pretty much guaranteed that everyone sitting around this table a little over a year ago at some point during their campaign for the election for office discussed our old swimming pool," said CAO Chris Rayner at a recent regular council meeting, recalling 2021's municipal election season. "One of the first things that we did once everyone got elected was started to talk about the swimming pool. We reached out and found some great designers and had a great design done with a splash pad. It looked great."

Rayner said that, despite the best of intentions of moving forward quickly, plans began to stall when new concepts and locations for the pool started being explored. 

"Somewhere along the way we thought, 'Well, maybe that great pool would look better over here at the community center.' And we kind of delayed things again," said Rayner. "We're going around around in circles here, and we are in in jeopardy of potentially losing another swimming season, so we need to narrow this down really take a grasp at a concept and a location."

Rayner said the town is now focusing on keeping Victoria Park as the location of the public, and that the Community Splash Pad Group is working with the town to have the splash pad there as well. Rayner asked for council's blessing to bring a designer and surveyor in to get a detailed location an elevation plan prepared. Council unanimously agreed.