Court rejects bid to save Vancouver Aquatic Centre from permanent closure | Daily Hive

The existing Vancouver Aquatic Centre. (Stephanie Braconnier/Shutterstock)

Following 52 years of operation, Vancouver Aquatic Centre at Sunset Beach Park on Downtown Vancouver’s West End waterfront will permanently close as planned this Sunday, June 28, after a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia earlier this week rejected an interim injunction request to stop the closure.

That request was made by the Save Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society, a group formed and supported by local residents, swim club members, and other pool users to fight the Vancouver Park Board’s surprise reveal in early 2025 that it would proceed with building a brand-new facility with a 25-metre, eight-lane lap swimming pool as the main tank, instead of a modern 50-metre, Olympic-sized, eight-lane lap swimming pool.

The society has been leading the fight, organizing rallies and hiring lawyers to support its case in court. Since July 2025, it has raised nearly $91,000 through crowdfunding to cover its legal costs.

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Earlier this month, the City of Vancouver first announced the aquatic centre’s last day of operation would be June 28, enabling the start of site preparation work and demolition work in Fall 2026. This follows the municipal government’s legally mandated deadline to begin construction before the end of 2026 in order to use the $103 million in loans for the project approved by voters in the plebiscite question on the 2022 civic election ballot.

This construction financing will cover the majority of the project’s $175-million cost.

While the judge rejected the interim injunction request, the court has yet to make a decision on the central legal battle — whether the City has the legal authority to build a 25-metre tank for the project’s main tank.

In addition to the 25-metre pool, there would be a leisure pool with a lazy river, a deep diving tank, a hot pool, steam and sauna rooms, and a fitness gym. All of these elements would be constructed within the existing facility’s exact footprint to help reduce costs.

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2025 concept of the new Vancouver Aquatic Centre. (MJMA Architecture & Design/Acton Ostry Architects/Vancouver Park Board)

February 2025 preliminary concept of the new Vancouver Aquatic Centre. (Acton Ostry Architects/MJMA Architecture and Design)

But the society argues that Vancouver voters explicitly approved borrowing for the redevelopment of the 1974-built facility with a 50-metre lap pool and diving pool through the plebiscite question. It contends that the City’s capital plan, official voter information package, and other public documents consistently described the project as a renewal of the 50-metre facility, with no indication it could instead become a new 25-metre pool. Therefore, the society says using the approved funds for a downsized replacement exceeds the authority granted by voters and undermines the purpose of the Vancouver Charter’s voter-assent provisions.

The group also argues the City cannot dismiss its own voter materials as merely “extraneous” after relying on them to secure public approval. It says accepting that position would create a precedent allowing municipalities to promise one project to voters, obtain borrowing authority, and then deliver something materially different.

The society asserts that a 25-metre pool would be devastating for the established swim clubs and groups that depend on a 50-metre facility for their programming, given the highly limited number of suitable alternatives in the city.

On the City’s claims that the current facility is unsafe, the society asserts the evidence before the court — including engineering reports commissioned by the City — found repairs to be feasible and did not conclude the building was structurally unsound.

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Exterior of the existing Vancouver Aquatic Centre on Beach Avenue. (Shutterstock)

A partial collapse of the exterior wall near the main entrance of the aging Vancouver Aquatic Centre in March 2022. (Daily Hive)

The existing Vancouver Aquatic Centre. (Stephanie Braconnier/Shutterstock)

However, the City and Park Board argue that the legally binding authority comes from the wording of the borrowing bylaw and plebiscite question itself, not from supporting documents such as the capital plan, voter information package, or other published materials. They contend those materials are supplementary background and should not determine what voters legally authorized.

The City also argues that the existing facility has significant safety issues and must close, supporting its decision to proceed with demolition and redevelopment.

The redevelopment project was expedited as a capital plan priority after a March 2022 incident, when there was a partial collapse of the exterior wall near the main entrance.

Then in November 2025, the facility was suddenly closed for about three weeks, after a piece of concrete fell from the ceiling and into one of the pool lanes. During the closure, a safety investigation was conducted, and precautionary ceiling netting was installed.

The City maintains that the approved borrowing authority allows it to move forward with the current project, including replacing the existing 50-metre pool with a 25-metre pool, rather than being legally bound to construct a renewed 50-metre facility.

The municipal government and its hired architectural design contractors maintain that achieving a 50-metre pool at this particular location would require a far larger footprint, given the extra spatial requirements to meet modern standards for an Olympic-sized pool. This would not only carry significantly higher costs, along with the geotechnical risks of the waterfront site, but require the City to go back to voters for permission to borrow money for the project, as they would not be able to meet the legally mandated deadline of late 2026 to utilize the borrowed funds that are currently available for the project. As well, it could delay the timeline for implementing other aquatic facility projects, such as the much-needed replacement of the aging, vulnerable Kitsilano Outdoor Pool.

To meet the unique needs of swim clubs, groups, and elite and recreational swimmers who need full 50-metre swimming lanes, the municipal government is aiming to build an aquatic centre with a modern Olympic-sized pool in another area of the city, possibly in South Vancouver. But this facility would not be pursued until the 2030s at the very earliest.

As a semi-permanent measure until a new 50-metre pool is realized somewhere in Vancouver, the Park Board has offered to relocate the activities and programs currently provided at the 50-metre pool of Hillcrest Centre to enable swim clubs and other groups to utilize the facility on an interim basis.

Earlier this year, Park Board commissioners requested the City’s Office of the Auditor General to conduct a performance audit of the planning and decision-making process behind the project, but they stopped short of directing a cancellation of the project.

The aquatic centre at Hillcrest Centre. (City of Vancouver)

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