Sports groups are divided over the size of a pool at the proposed $122 million Memorial Park aquatic centre.
The aquatics centre - with bombing pools, splash pad, a toddler pool, eight indoor swimming lanes and two outdoor lanes would replace the existing outdoor pool and the QEII Youth Centre at the park.
The aquatic centre was approved by the commission that ran Tauranga from 2021 until the July election.
The project was paused by the newly elected council so they could get more information and consult with the community.
The two-week survey finished on Friday and Tauranga City Council received more than 5200 responses.
There were 73% of survey respondents who supported additional aquatic facilities in Tauranga.
Around 72% of survey respondents supported spending $80-105m on the Memorial Park aquatic centre.
People ranked the pool features they wanted most with a learn to swim pool in the top spot followed by an indoor 50m lane pool, a leisure pool was third on the list.
People also shared their thoughts about the centre at council meeting on Tuesday.
Sport Bay of Plenty strategic partnership general manager Larissa Cuff. Photo / David Hall
Sport Bay of Plenty strategic partnership general manager Larissa Cuff encouraged the council to continue with the aquatic centre but build multiple pools not a 50m one.
“Sport Bay Plenty’s preferred option is multiple pools of varying sizes to allow for a more dedicated spaces for different activities.”
A feasibility study for the Memorial Park recreation hub said Tauranga’s aquatic network has insufficient leisure facilities which supported their recommendation of multiples pools for different uses, said Cuff.
Champion swimmer Moss Burmester supported a 50m pool, he grew up in Tauranga but had to leave for his swimming career because the city doesn’t have a 50m pool. Rotorua is the closest city with a 50m pool.
A 50m pool could be turned into two 25m pools with a bulkhead but the ideal situation would be to have a 50m and 25m pool, he said.
Now an Aquatic Survival Skill Skills Trust board member, Burmester said Tauranga had less aquatic space than other areas and the trust believed there was a correlation between this and the number of drownings in the city.
He also urged the council to keep the Ōtūmoetai pool to add to the aquatic network.
“The key is to keep as much aquatic space as possible.”
The commission decided to decommission the 50-year-old Ōtūmoetai pool once the aquatic centre was built because of significant structural and age-related issues.
Suzie Edmonds, who started the Save The Ōtūmoetai Pool group, told the council her mission was to keep the pool open.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the decision about the Ōtūmoetai Pool was made by the commission and the new council was yet to decide its future.
The council meeting to decide the aquatic facility’s future was held after The Weekend Sun went to print. You find out about the centre’s fate on sunlive.co.nz
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
