Parksville needs an indoor public swimming pool.
Currently in Parksville the only places to swim are at the beaches or in the Englishman river, which are unsupervised, weather permitting, and not accessible for the elderly or handicapped. It is a matter of safety given the proximity of Parksville to multiple bodies of water that we have an indoor public swimming pool where our children can learn how to swim, and where people of all ages and abilities can safely enjoy the water under lifeguard supervision.
Currently the closest public pool is Ravensong Aquatic Centre in the Town of Qualicum Beach (population 8,943). However due to the pool not being full size, it is too small to handle the daily volume of participants, and when programs such as aerobics or lessons are on there is no access for patrons wishing to something else at the pool.
The closest full size pool is the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre which is more than 30 minutes away. Having to commute to the Nanaimo Aquatic Center a few times each week in order to be able to swim laps is inconvenient. The City of Parksville (population 12,514) as a growing community needs to have basic amenities like a public pool in order to promote itself as thriving healthy community. Without the basic amenities like a public swimming pool that other Canadian municipalities have, how are we here in Parksville going to attract investment dollars from developers and entrepreneurs to build homes and businesses, and attract much needed working professionals like doctors to relocate here? Now is the time that we should be investing in this city’s future, while we still have reasonably priced parcels of land in the city limits that are large enough for a full size public swimming pool.
James Gray
Parksville
