Tauranga City Council to consider new design options for planned new aquatic centre

Tauranga City Council’s route to the development of its new $105 million aquatic centre has seen it invite community input on what the facility should include and will now also look at fresh design options.

Planning to replace the outdoor pool and the QEII Youth Centre at the city’s Memorial Park, the council elected in July to replace Tauranga City Council’s commission paused the pool project in October to seek more information and community consultation.

Considering received community input at a meeting last Thursday, the council decided to keep the project on hold to look at other design options.

Following the meeting, Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the Council was still committed to build an aquatic facility at Memorial Park and pausing the current design was only to ensure value for money.

As reported by the Bay of Plenty’s SunLive, Major Drysdale said the public survey results has swayed his own position and reaffirmed that the council should build the facility.

The two-week survey finished on 8th November with the Council receiving more than 5200 responses.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of respondents supported additional aquatic facilities in Tauranga while around the same number (72%) supported the plan to spend between $80 million and $105 million on the new pool complex to be located near Tauranga’s city centre.

The most-wanted pool feature was a learn-to-swim pool, followed by an indoor 50 metre lane pool. A leisure pool was third in the rankings.

Bay Venues Chief Executive Chad Hooker said the survey highlighted that the city was short on aquatic facilities that operate at full capacity during peak times.

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

Members of the public also shared their thoughts about the centre to the Council.

Sport Bay of Plenty Strategic Partnership General Manager Larissa Cuff encouraged the council to continue with the aquatic centre but build multiple pools, not a 50 metre one, commenting “Sport Bay Plenty’s preferred option is multiple pools of varying sizes to allow for a more dedicated spaces for different activities.”

Cuff noted that a feasibility study for the Memorial Park recreation hub said Tauranga’s aquatic network had insufficient leisure facilities, which supported the recommendation for multiples pools for different uses.

A facility with a bombing pool, splash pad, toddler pool, eight indoor swimming lanes and two outdoor lanes was previously approved by Tauranga City Council’s commission to replace the outdoor pool and the QEII Youth Centre at Memorial Park.

Image: An artist's impression of the proposed $105 million Memorial Park Aquatic Centre. Credit: Tauranga City Council.