To create an urban pool using the Burrard Inlet, which is rendered here, the City of North Vancouver is teaming up with the Weston family in $21-million collaboration.Supplied
People visiting Paris this summer got a first-time opportunity to jump into the cleaned-up Seine River and go for a swim.
Now, avid swimmers in B.C. will be able to plunge into the harbour waters of Burrard Inlet in a new, boardwalk-enclosed pool on the City of North Vancouver’s waterfront, thanks to a non-profit organization supported by Canada’s Weston family that wants to promote urban swimming.
The city will be contributing $5-million to the construction cost plus ongoing maintenance of up to $750,000 a year, while the non-profit Swim Drink Fish will contribute $16-million donated by the Westons.
Linda Buchanan, mayor of North Vancouver, said her city is “beyond thrilled” at a project that she said will “transform our ocean front.”
Non-profit Swim Drink Fish is providing five grants to other B.C. communities to build natural water swimming structures.Supplied
Swim Drink Fish is also providing five grants – collectively called the WAVE prize – of $3- to $15-million apiece to other B.C. communities to build natural water swimming structures for residents and visitors.
“We’re proud to support the launch of the WAVE Prize across British Columbia and North Vancouver’s harbour swimming deck,” said Galen Weston in an e-mail. “These initiatives reinforce Canadians’ ability to rally around ambitious ideas and translate them into meaningful benefits for their local community.”
The Burrard Inlet swim decks, which will include a larger pool with 50-foot swim lengths, will be built in front of Waterfront Park in North Vancouver, just west of the Seabus terminal. They are expected to be open by 2027 and are projected to accommodate up to 400 people at a time.
The grants from the WAVE competition are also expected to cover 80 per cent of the total cost of the local city’s swimming structure idea.
None of the three municipalities on the North Shore – City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver – have a single outdoor swimming pool currently, although the population of these communities on the slopes of the Coast Mountains is more than 200,000.
City officials said that repeated testing has indicated the water is safe to swim in, with E. coli levels below 250 colony-forming units, which is considered the safe limit.
There is currently only one designated beach in the inner-harbour area on either the Vancouver or North Shore side of Burrard Inlet, located at Cates Park on the north side.
On the south shore, Vancouver’s New Brighton Park, near the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, has a small beach but it is not included in the list of official city beaches and, generally, only the most adventurous visitors try to swim there.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is the government body that issues the building permit. City officials have been in discussions with them.