Council to host Corowa Pool Information Session

Published on 16 March 2018

Federation Council is set to host a community information session to discuss future development options for the Corowa Swimming Pool facility. The new Council is wanting to re-engage with the community to finalise the engagement work previously completed on the project, before an in-principle decision is made at Council’s monthly meeting in April 2018, for a final decision expected at the May 2018 meeting.

Federation Council Mayor Pat Bourke said following an extensive overview of the project to date by the new Council and based on the community engagement work completed in 2016, Council is now working closely with Otium Consulting Group to explore all options and ensure a well-informed decision is made on the future of the Corowa Swimming pool facility.

“The new Council has been extremely proactive and has actively challenged the previous options and models presented to the Council over the many years,” Mayor Bourke said. “In consultation with the community and key stakeholder groups Council will continue to work as hard as it can to deliver a facility that is able to best meet the needs of many users and also taking into account something that is achievable from a capital expenditure point of view, being also mindful of ongoing operational costs. There is obviously a real balance between that, in terms of putting in elements to encourage more people into the pools, increasing your operational costs in some respects, but also then increasing your revenue from more visitors”.

“The existing pool facility and plant is over 60 years old and is at the end of its operational life, therefore a new pool is necessary for a number of safety and compliance reasons and repairing the pool is not feasible.”

The community information session will be held at the Corowa RSL Club, on Monday 26th of March, 2018 commencing at 5.30pm and Council is extending an invitation to user groups and other stakeholders, as well as the wider public to attend.

Mayor Bourke said it is critical that Council discuss the future development options with the community and do not delay the project any further to allow for tenders to be developed and called for, to allow the project to meet grant deadlines and to also lesson the number of seasons the community will be without a pool.

“It is hoped that a new Corowa Swimming Pool facility will be operational by December 2019 and it is expected that the current Corowa Swimming Pool will not operate during the next season between November 2018 to March 2019,” he said. The current feasibility report is considering a range of options including an indoor 25m, outdoor 25m and, 50m option with a program and learn to swim pool.”

Mayor Bourke said a strong focus has been placed on the feasibility of an outdoor 50m pool, and program pool or indoor 25m complex as it is understood that these are the two more preferred options by the community.

“All options being considered include an increased focus on water play and splash pad features to gain an increased visitation rate to the complex, as well as offer a new and exciting element of fun for local families,” he said.

Council confirmed that a project update report will be tabled at the March 2018 monthly meeting next Tuesday.

Information Session Details:

What: Presentation of the Corowa Swimming Pool Feasibility Report

When: Monday 26th March commencing at 5.30pm

Where: Corowa RSL Club RSVP: None needed.

View the latest feasibility study discussed at the information session here(PDF, 5MB).