'Three years in the making': Regina city council approves preliminary funding plan for Lawson Aquatic Centre replacement

City council meets for last time before election WATCH: On Wednesday, Regina city council met for the final time before the municipal election. Donovan Maess has the details.

At the final meeting of this iteration of Regina City Council, the plan of how to pay for a new indoor aquatic facility (IAF) was approved.

Three scenarios were presented to councillors on how administration feels costs could be distributed.

Council approved a scenario which includes some debt funding and a one-time mill rate increase of 1.9 per cent divided up to .4 per cent increases over five years.

“If it had happened eight years ago, it would have been less expensive,” Mayor Sandra Masters told reporters following Wednesday’s meeting.

The approval means construction planning may go forward.

The project aims to build a new pool in the place of the current Lawson Aquatic Centre.

Approved funding of over $100 million in federal, provincial and municipal dollars is tied to the build.

Total costs of the project exceed $245 million, over $80 million more than when plans were approved by council in March of 2023.

“That’s where we need to ask the questions,” said Ward 4 Coun. Lori Bresciani, who is running against Masters for mayor in the upcoming civic election. “If I was going to buy a new home or do a renovation and costs came 50 per cent more, the first question I would be [asking] is, ‘Are there other options?”

Two pools?

Bresciani attempted to present a motion at the Oct. 2 Executive Committee meeting which would have tasked administration in looking into repairing the Lawson and building the new IAF somewhere else.

It was found to be out of order to the motion already on floor.

Doing so may have taken the city back to square one of the entire project.

On Wednesday, Bresciani was not given a chance to present a similar motion.

“If there was an option to have two pools, I think that’s better than one,” she said.

Administration has said multiple times costs to repair the Lawson exceed $60 million and would extend its useful life by about 25 years.

When asked about getting sponsorship contributions before approving construction, City Manager Niki Anderson said administration needed a project approved for those type of funding options.

“We continue to explore other funding models,” she told council. “Today, we don’t have sponsorship dollars. This is the money we feel we would need to do the scope of the pool you all approved.”

Administration adds for every $1 million in annual sponsorship, the dedicated mill rate can be reduced by 0.33 per cent.

Bresciani questioned why the project needed to be approved at the final meeting before the election break.

“We don’t know how much we’ve got in. Because we’ve got an election looming, this is the end?” she asked Anderson.

“I am not an elected official,” Anderson responded. “It has nothing to do with an election today. We have no guarantee of sponsorship funds. Having interest doesn’t translate to a dollar amount.”

The approved plan would see the current Lawson pool demolished after the new IAF is built to make room for parking.

Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak asked if there was a way to repurpose the Lawson.

“There would still be significant costs to turn it into an alternate use,” said Director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Laurie Shalley. “That’s not something we currently have budgeted for.”

'A very old promise'

Replacing the Lawson facility was a part of Masters’ 2020 mayoral campaign.

“It’s three years in the making,” she said. “Between convincing all levels of government has allowed us to save money.”

“And just delivering on a promise from 2009. It’s a very old promise,” Masters added.

Ward 5 Coun. John Findura said the costs of doing nothing in the past have brought the city to where they are today.

“We should have done something back then,” he said. “There are wins and losses. This is a win.”

Coun. Landon Mohl, who voted against approving construction, was wary of attaching property tax increases to the funding model.

“We’re building a pool comparable to pools in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Winnipeg. Those cities are all over 1 million people,” he said. “We are 235,000.”

“We should have a referendum on this pool, and even the library, to see if residents are actually in favour of this tax increase.”

Masters hoped construction would officially begin in fall of 2025.

Final details surrounding debt funding and potential mil rate increases will be cemented at future budget deliberations by the new council after Regina’s civic election on Nov. 13, 2024.