New design sought for Tauranga’s $105 million aquatic centre

New design options are being sought for a new $105 million swimming pool complex near Tauranga city center.

A facility with a bombing pool, splash pad, paddling pool, eight indoor swimming lanes and two outdoor lanes was approved by the Tauranga City Council committee to replace the outdoor pool and QEII Youth Center at Memorial Park.

The council elected in July to replace the commission halted the pool project in October to seek more information and consultation with the community.

During a meeting on Thursday, the council decided to put the project on hold to look at other design options.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the council was still committed to building a water facility at Memorial Park and that pausing the current design was only to ensure value for money.

He said the results of the public inquiry influenced his position and reaffirmed that the council should build the facility.

The two-week survey ended on Friday with Tauranga City Council receiving more than 5200 responses.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents were in favor of additional water facilities in Tauranga.

About the same number supported the plan to spend between $80 million and $105 million on the Memorial Park Aquatic Center.

The most sought after pool feature was a teaching pool, followed by an indoor pool with 50 meter lanes. A recreational pool was in third place in the rankings.

Chad Hooker, CEO of Bay Venues, said the study shows the city has a shortage of water facilities that operate at full capacity during peak hours.

Councilor Rod Taylor said the council needed to deliver the facility within a reasonable timeframe.

“Let’s keep this going and make it happen,” Taylor said.

Hooker said if the decision were made to proceed early next year, it would not be completed until 2028.

Citizens also shared their opinions about the center during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Larissa Cuff, chief executive of Sport Bay of Plenty’s strategic partnership, encouraged the council to go ahead with the aquatic centre, but build multiple pools, not just one of 50 metres.

“Sport Bay Plenty’s preferred option is to have multiple pools of different sizes so that more dedicated areas can be created for different activities,” she said.

A feasibility study for the Memorial Park leisure center reported that Tauranga’s water network had insufficient recreational facilities and supported the recommendation for multiple pools for different purposes, Cuff said.

Champion swimmer Moss Burmester has backed an Olympic-sized 50m pool, saying he grew up in Tauranga but had to leave for his swimming career because the city didn’t have a 50m pool.

Rotorua was the nearest town with a 50 meter pool.

A 51-metre pool could be converted into two 25-metre pools with a 1-metre bulkhead, but the ideal situation would be to have a 51- and 25-metre pool, he said.

Burmester, now a board member of the Aquatic Survival Skills Skills Trust, said Tauranga had less water space than other areas and the trust believed there was a link between this and the number of drownings in the city.

He also urged the council to preserve the Ōtūmoetai Swimming Pool and add it to the aquatic network.

“The key is to preserve as much water space as possible,” says Burmester.

The committee decided to dismantle the 50-year-old Ōtūmoetai Swimming Pool once the aquatic center was built due to significant structural and age-related problems.

Suzie Edmonds, who started Save The Ōtūmoetai Pool – Project STOP, urged the council that its mission was to keep the pool open.

Drysdale said the decision on Ōtūmoetai Pool was made by the committee and the new council had yet to decide on its future.

Greg Cummings, director of Liz van Welie Aquatics, a private aquatic facility and swim school, asked the council to pause and reconnect with Tauranga’s aquatic sector.

They had over 200 swimmers use their teaching pool and they booked lanes at Greerton Pool to accommodate their other swim teams.

He favored a small-scale facility at Memorial Park for recreation and a purpose-built 52-meter pool elsewhere in the city for competitive sports.

Drysdale said they heard the community wanted a 50-meter pool, but a pool at the Memorial Park center “doesn’t make sense.”

As part of their reporting, the council would look at options for a 50-metre pool elsewhere in the city, he said.

Staff would report to council on water options and keeping the Ōtūmoetai Pool open by February 2025.

LDR is local journalism, co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.