FSJ learns from the past
New pool promises wider lanes, accessible piping and better features – yet City eyes 1995 bylaw to cover $4.1M shortfall
Even before it opened on October 26, 1996 – exactly one month later than originally planned – the North Peace Leisure Pool was plagued with problems.
From the three referendums the project had to go through before borrowing was approved in June 1995, to a heavy downpour in September 1996 which fractured the drainage pipes from the leisure and lap pools, when water made its way from the old pool building next door, creating a void under the drain pipes, and ultimately delaying the grand opening by a month.
When the NPLP finally opened – after the festivities saw then-Mayor Steve Thorlakson and Councillor Audrey Bartell push each other into the lap pool – the celebration was short-lived. The building’s structural quirks soon became impossible to ignore, starting with the exterior waterslides and culminating in the permanent decommissioning of the hot tub in June 2023.
As the region’s population continued to grow, and with it demand for swimming lessons and participation in swim clubs. Demands the current facility has struggled to accommodate.
The size of the lap pool was inadequate to properly host swim meets, and with the lanes being 1.6m wide instead of 2.5m was barely able to accommodate swim club training and public lap swimming in the same session.
Now, the NPLP has reached the point where shutdowns are getting longer and more expensive with each passing year, a newer pool has become a critical need in the community.
Despite the initial momentum from the regional replacement steering committee, including public consultations, reports, studies and Class D estimate for three different possible replacement facilities, the project stalled.
Given the issues with the current facility, Fort St. John’s Chief Administrative Officer Milo MacDonald told the broken typewriter that “there is a real urgency in getting a facility in place before we lose the old one and have nothing at all for aquatics.”
Following years of collaborative stalemate, the project has progressed quickly towards the goal of an October 2026 referendum under the City’s guidance, using the work that the PRRD handed over when the steering committee was dissolved.
In an interview, Councillor Trevor Bolin noted that the amount of work done by the regional steering committee, and the fact that the City is using the same architects the PRRD used was helpful in getting the Aquatic Facility Working Group to where it is now in the project timeline.
“I think that actually propelled us to where we are right now. Having Parkwood developers come forward and propose gifting that site to the facility. I think all the pieces just kind of fell it together right at the right time,” said Bolin.
In the March 23 project update provided to Council during the Committee of the Whole, Chief Corporate Officer Lucas Panoulias and Director of Community Services Kylah Bryde, outlined the concept design, Class D estimates, funding options for both capital and operating costs as well as the projected timeline.
The concept design includes wider lanes in both 25m lap pools, a much larger hot tub, indoor waterslide and spectator seating – all features that needed improvement in the current facility. The design also includes a basement, which Bryde explained “will provide access to the piping which is a great upgrade to our current facility.”
MacDonald explained: “Essentially there were a number of design oversights in the original pool design and elements of it are completely unserviceable with pipes buried in concrete and inaccessible.”
While the $185 million potential price tag is being billed as a considerable savings over the regional steering committee’s 2024 estimate for a similar facility, when it comes to operating the new facility, the City is facing a $4.1 million shortfall.
Panoulis took Council through the financial proposals for the project, and the potential options to address the operational shortfall, including “transitioning” the 1995 North Peace Leisure Pool Local Service Area Bylaw to support operations of the new facility.
Other options included creating a sub-regional recreation agreement or implementing a two-tier fee system.
Bolin, who has become the de facto face of the pool project explained the options:
“Some of the options came back as two-tier a two-tier rate so residents of Fort St. John would pay you know $8 to go swimming and residents of Charlie Lake would pay $12 to go swimming or whatever that looked like,” he said.
“Staff came out with one option to look at shifting the existing bylaw, which is still a pool function for the region for the operation side only. That is a potential option to look at the operational side of it outside of the capital in order to continue to have a, you know, sort of regionally operated expense-wise facility that benefits everybody.”
Transitioning a regional bylaw for use with a city-owned project is something that would have to be approved by both the Regional District and the provincial government, specifically, the Inspector of Municipalities.
The City’s suggestion that it use the 1995 North Peace Leisure Pool Local Service Area Bylaw – which exempts 848 properties in Area B from taxation to pay for the operations of the NPLP – represents a pivot from the October 16, 2025 Peace River Regional District board meeting when Fort St. John directors Lilia Hansen and Tony Zabinsky objected to a routine amendment of this very piece of legislation. At that time, PRRD CAO Shawn Dahlen warned that the grandfathered bylaw, and its specific exemptions, would likely fail to meet Ministry standards if it was presented to them now.
Bolin, who’s been involved with planning for a new pool since the original replacement steering committee was formed, says the public has loved the idea, the concept of the facility since it first went out to public consultation eight years ago.
“I love recreation in Fort St. John. I love for youth and seniors and families to have something to do on evenings and weekends, so to me this facility is a big win, if it gets approved under the referendum. My grandkids will be using this facility just like I used the previous two, so it kind of makes me pretty proud,” he said.
“The need is there, we hear about it all the time, and it’s one of those things where I’m going to stick it out until the referendum happens, and we’re told either yes let’s do this, or no come up with another plan.”