Following a Feb. 24 council meeting that left the Warm Water Therapy Pool Society dissatisfied with the proposed schematic design of the warm water therapy pool, members from the group were anxious to meet with the project design team March 5.
The 184-cubic metre therapy pool is a part of the entire schematic design of the proposed aquatic centre/curling club, which sits with a current $45 million price tag. At the time of Eagle publication, the outcome from this meeting was unknown. A follow-up story will run in the March 13 Eagle.
“Our society is trying to reflect and communicate what we have learned from our user groups,” said Foy, adding that as a financial advisor, he is not a fan of ‘putting the cart before the horse’ and is concerned this is happening with the therapy pool — where costs are being discussed before revenue.
Toews suggested at council that if the society was not happy they could consider walking away from the project and perhaps go out on their own.
The society is emphatic that the pool is best situated as part of the aquatic centre and to approach it as a private project is not a viable option for the society – a volunteer-driven group.
It appears that miscommunication was a factor that led to Mayor Brooker and Coun. Jeff Toews to be ‘baffled’ by the society’s negative reaction to the schematic design presentation in Feb. 24 council.
According to Suzanne Gaida, senior manager of community services for the Town of Cochrane, the schematic design for the pool included input from a group of stakeholders in 2012, which included two representatives from the society.
A meeting held last fall between stakeholders and project manager, Tango, left council with the understanding that the schematic design process could move forward.
Foy said that he and fellow society members were under the impression, heading into the Feb. 24 council meeting, that the schematic design was not in the advanced stages yet and that there was room for input from the society into the overall design of the therapy pool.
Toews said there might be room for small changes, but major design changes would not be possible at this time; this sentiment was echoed by Gaida, who emphasized the potential cost burden that redoing the design could have.
“This is supposed to be a facility for everyone,” said Toews, adding that in order to achieve cost recovery and not dip into the tax payer’s pocket, some of the society’s requests don’t appear to be feasible; one suggestion was the possible installation of a floor pool that could be raised and lowered.
Gaida suggested that the society look to alternative solutions to satisfy this, including portable technologies, which could be fundraised or accessed through grants that the town would not have access to.
Another concern for the society was ensuring adequate privacy for users of the therapy pool.
“We’re a public facility and the second we give them a private room we would have to have a lifeguard for them,” said Toews, adding that this would not be possible and that an on-duty lifeguard must have visible sight lines to the bottom of the pool at all times — so a divider or pony wall to separate the therapy pool is also not an option.
Foy said the society wants to see as much functionality and service to be incorporated into the pool as possible, in order to serve a wide demographic of community members and user groups.
The society currently has 11 people sitting on the board and over 90 members.
The society released a YouTube video last week that interviews stakeholders, medical professionals and persons undergoing warm water therapy treatments; according to Foy, the video is “another way of presenting the benefits of having a warm water therapy pool”.
Serge Tessier, clinic director at the Cochrane Sport Physio and Massage, has been consulting with the society for the last three years; he cited benefits to persons suffering from neurological conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, as well as individuals on the road to recovery from surgery or even individuals with Autism and Cerebral Palsy.
Tessier supports striking a balance between building a therapy pool that could meet many of the society’s needs, while fitting it into a community centre.
“I believe that the proposed design meets many, if not all of the requirements of a successful warm water therapy facility. I also appreciate that there are additional ‘wants’ and ‘wish-list’ items that the Warm Water Therapy group would like to see incorporated,” said the medical professional.
“I feel that through compromise and perhaps some creative programming discussions both sides can be happy with and be proud of the final product. I do not feel that the two groups (the society and the town) are so far apart as to risk the project not moving forward.”
All parties expressed a desire to work together and move forward to the next phase of the aquatic centre: finalizing designs and presenting this to council March 24. Should council choose to proceed forward, Gaida is gearing up to make the official announcement of the fundraising campaign by early April.
“The society is looking forward to sharing their ideas and suggestions and learning to what extent those ideas can be incorporated into the Warm Water Therapy Pool design,” said Foy.
“All parties continue working constructively towards a positive outcome.”
A fundraising and communications meeting will be held next week to discuss what Toews and Gaida are referring to as ‘an exciting fundraising campaign’.
Foy said the society will start their fundraising campaign once corporate sponsorship are secured for the project and everything is moving forward.
