The Inglewood Aquatic Centre is set to close its doors for good this year, after a reprieve that kept its doors open for nearly an additional five years.

The City of Calgary announced the closure of the pool would be coming on Dec. 22, 2024, after declining use, rising operating costs and extensive required repairs were needed to consider keeping the facility open.

Heather Johnson, the Director of Recreation and Social Programs at the City of Calgary said that there was an expected $600,000 cost to repair electrical systems, with the potential of further costs to modernize the facility.

“Regrettably, we’ve recently learned that significant electrical repairs are required across all city-operated aquatics facilities, including the Inglewood Aquatic Centre,” she said.

“I want to assure you that there’s no safety risk to our customers or staff accessing the facility however, there is a risk the electrical system could unexpectedly fail, resulting in the facility being inoperable and causing a disruption to our user groups and customers.”

Johnson said that the decision to close the facility permanently in December removes the need to undertake the closure of the pool for three months and the cost for repairs.

She said the closure would create “the opportunity for potential redevelopment including new housing and stimulating the local economy.”

Under a restrictive covenant signed when the City of Calgary began overseeing the pool in the 1960s from its builders, Calgary Malting and Brewing, the land the facility sits on would be returned to Matco Group of Companies.

The City of Calgary presented other city-owned and non-profit facilities as alternatives for users: MNP Community and Sport Centre located on Macleod Trail SE and operated by the Lindsay Park Sports Society, the Bob Bahan Aquatic and Fitness Centre located on 14 Avenue SE in Forest Lawn, and the Renfrew Aquatic Centre located on 13 Avenue NE in Renfrew.

The MNP Centre, which has an $85 million expansion planned, was recommended by Johnson as the ideal replacement location for users.

“We’re very aware of the need to provide aquatics in the inner city, and the first choice was the investment at MNP. [It] is already a great facility, but many of us think of it as maybe performance and competition oriented although it’s publicly available for all types of activities,” she said.

She said that consultations with users about a potential closure occurred in 2019 during the initial indication that the pool would be closed was a desire for more aquatic amenities like waterslides and hot pools.

“At that point, we underwent a significant engagement process with the public as a whole but particularly with residents and community associations in Inglewood and Ramsey and the main thing that we learned or confirmed through that process was the desire for family-friendly amenities in the community. We think the expansion at MNP is going to be a great addition to the recreation opportunities available for residents in this part of the city,” Johnson said.

Closure given a reprieve that was extended due to the pandemic

The City of Calgary provided one-time funding in 2019 to continue to operate the Inglewood Aquatic Centre, giving it a two-year reprieve from an overall $60 million cut to the City of Calgary budget.

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said that he had become convinced that the City of Calgary was correct about its initial facility assessment.

“The city was correct in its global assessment, that the Inglewood pool was not a smart financial bet for the city’s provision of pools to citizens. It is too small, it is too old, it is too problematic, and then if we had a bunch of land there we could build a bunch of things around that pool,” Carra said.

“We made a commitment to deliver pool services to inner city families… at the MNP Center. We looked at a lot of opportunities like the Lilydale site. We looked at where would the ideal recreational pool-based recreational offerings for inner city families would go, because the inner city families need that, and at the end of the day, the MNP was chosen.”

He said that at the time he had put forward a use-it-or-lose-it message to local residents, and that by-and-large they had responded by using the pool.

“Having said that when we say the community, we’re not necessarily talking about individual users from Inglewood who go for an occasional swim, we’re talking about the broader community of pool users,” Carra said.

“All of our pools are subsidized, all of our pools are holes in the ground that we throw money into. It’s just the amount of money that we’re throwing into the Inglewood pool is significantly more than the other pools, and that’s a problem.”

In a report provided to Calgary City Council in 2019, the Inglewood pool was 71 per cent taxpayer-supported, with a cost recovery of 29 per cent from users—with an approximate $10.50 per user visit being paid for by taxpayers.

The number of visits then was 55,000 per year, versus an average of 91,000 per year at all of the city’s Tier 1 flat water pools without full amenity complements.

Johnson said that in 2024, pool usage was still an outlier compared to other city facilities, and although the numbers weren’t directly comparable it was about half the number of users of the Killarney or Glenmore aquatic centres.