Moncton's east end pool will be deeper for $62,000

Monctoncity council approved adding a 1.5-metre deep end tothe new east end outdoor poolat a cost of about $62,000.

The change to the design was approved by an 8-1 vote at a special council meeting Thursday afternoon.

The last-minute change in plans caps a week of confusion and recrimination about how the $2.3-million pool was approved last month without multiple councillors and supporters of the project knowing it would only be one metre deep.

The long-sought pool replaces one near theMonctonEast Youth Centre that closed in 2013 that had a deep end of a similar depth.

CatherineDallaire, the city's general manager of recreation, culture and events, said staff determined the plans could be amended and the pool open as planned next summer after consulting with the contractor and engineers.

"We're really pleased with the changes we're presenting to council today," said JocelynCohoon,Moncton'sdirector of leisure services.

Coun. PaulPellerin, who moved a motion at a committee meeting Monday for city staff to revisit the plans,voted against the change.

Couns. Blair Lawrence and PauletteThriaultwere absent.

Pellerinsaidhe felt that council needed more details andrefined plans.

"The new modified engineering drawings which were all hand drawn if you looked at it, wasvery confusing,"Pellerinsaid. "It never gave me the warm and cushy feeling that this was done properly."

Monctoncouncil approved awarding a construction tender for the east end pool at a July 16 meeting. Demolition of the old pool was underway when council asked city staff to revisit the plans.

The confusion last week over the depth of the new pool appeared to be the result of a number of factors, according to interviews with city staff andcouncillors.

Several citycouncillorsbelieved the new pool would simply be a newer version of the one it was set to replace - though built on piles to counter problematic soil conditions and with improvements to resist damage from flooding.

Much of the discussion about the pool has focused on the growing cost of the pool and whether it should be built in the location southeast ofFergusStreet. The pool is in a flood plain.

Councillorswere provided engineering drawings in February but say they missed the aspect that referred to the depth of the pool. The depth,councillorssay, was never explicitly explained by city staff.

Meanwhile,Dallairesaid earlier this week that pool design standards have changed and it was never the city's intent to rebuild a pool like the one it replaced.