Residents get more details into proposed aquatic centre

New concept drawings are out for the proposed aquatic centre in Timmins.

Residents got a good look at them during a public meeting Wednesday night, and while the old Sportsplex location looks to be where the new one would be built, some are still considering Highway 655 to locate the facility.

Paul Cravit, who is a sub-consultant on the team led by Sierra Planning, says both locations are great.  What gives the Sportsplex location the edge is the location in proximity to schools and the existing ice pad.

One resident pointed out that the pool is full of around 200 kids Monday through Friday afternoons, and moving the pool away from local schools would eliminate numbers from the Marlins program.

The locations are also suited to have an ice pad built later on, if the city so chooses to go that route.

To add the ice pad and additional parking at the Sportsplex location, the city would have to speak with District School Board Ontario Northeast (DSB-One).  The land to the south currently belongs to them and houses R. Ross Beattie, a Grade 7-8 school that has made news recently that they will open back up in September 2016 after a water leak forced students to finish this school year at Timmins High and Vocational School.

The school board is also preparing a capital plan, where one of the ideas is to make a move to TH&VS permanent over the coming years.

Many residents still had questions relating to details of the project as a whole, from length of the pool to studies on the land around the proposed locations and the like.

Officials say many of the details people were asking for have yet to be released.

More details will come out at a city council meeting in July.