Discussions

Yes I agree.First though I think the city has to decide on the pool by the water tower. It was built in 69 I think and at one time was slated to close in 2020. The city has neglected in now a replacement is pricey. If they had been spending more the just upkeep costs on it the cost to finally bring it up to code would worth it. Now I fear a complete replacement is needed. A one time huge cost like that is hard to justify for a four month pool. Simple on going upgrades was a good answer. Maybe the city has plans for the big water slide pool combo there?

Didn't Souris have to do a lot of fundraising to get that pool? Why hasn't anyone put forth a plan and fundraising for a waterpark/Pool for Brandon?

Waterslides in Brandon use to be located on Grand Valley Road years ago. I think they moved them or used what they could at fun mountain in Winnipeg.

Beach said "Waterslides in Brandon use to be located on Grand Valley Road years ago. I think they moved them or used what they could at fun mountain in Winnipeg. "

for about 8 bucks you could go for the whole day, there was about 5 different slides and a "BULLET".  
 
I enjoyed the year 1991 immensely.

I could be wrong but I think the waterslides were moved to kenosee lake? Again not too sure. But yes location may be a problem, but then again maybe not. Rideau park is very large. Perhaps a new pool structure could be developed on the north end of Rideau park? It would take a lot of fund raising, but maybe it's time? I suppose it all has to do with what the city is willing to do in terms of land development if a fund raiser were to be initiated. If you look at Souris pool or Portage, they bring a lot of people in from other communities to use their pools so they must generate a good revenue, and that of course will have an impact on our local businesses as well, especially when coming from small towns as they will probably be more inclined to make a full day trip spending money at a variety of local businesses. So being a huge expense for even a 2 or 3 month pool, it can generate a lot of income for the city.

The master rec plan does note citizens placed a pretty high priority on a better outdoor water option. Would love to see some kind of study of how well Brandon might support a higher end outdoor water park. We happily paid $15 for adults and $12 for a child to spend an afternoon at this place in Minnesota which I believe is owned/operated by the city. I don’t think something in Brandon would necessarily even need to be quite that big:  
http://www.bunkerbeach.com

Wow, that is a beautiful facility! Yea we probably dont need something that big in Brandon, but I think we could possibly match something like in Souris or Portage with a couple water slides, a kiddie pool of sorts with kid slides and fountains, maybe a moat and it would be nice to have a diving board too. Possibly a geo thermal heating or some other green option could help heat the pool. It would be interesting if the pool was built on the grounds of Rideau Park and they were able to combine a solar project that provided heat for the pool in the summer and heat for the nursing home in the winter.

How about something west of 18th St? Would be nice to have a pool for the people on this side of town. Our one paddle pool is only open 1-4 and the next closest option is the Linden lanes splash park. Seems unfair.

The waterslides on Grand Valley Road were called Thunder Mountain. They relocated to Grand Beach due to not being busy enough. The reason for this of course was location. The original proposal was to put it just off 18th St, where Grand Valley Church and Walmart are now, but city council at the time felt that area should remain as green space. That worked well, didn't it? If it was located there to begin with, we would still be enjoying it, along with the economic spin-off to the rest of the city. It could have been a destination for the area, much like Souris and Portage are now, plus it was privately owned, so no tax money to build it. One of the biggest blunders in the history of Brandon, IMO.

Beach said "Waterslides in Brandon use to be located on Grand Valley Road years ago. I think they moved them or used what they could at fun mountain in Winnipeg. "

I truly would not say they were Brandon's. The first location they wanted but Nimbys and the city said no. It would have been in a far easier to access location. Just about where the coral centre is today. It ended up near highway one and the grandvalley road. A pretty long bike ride and not the safest. I think it ended up pretty much stranded for walk in or bike in traffic. A car or transit?. City transit I think looked at a couple of daily runs. Similar to what curran park tried although they did not. My thoughts is that it was just too far out of town. These types of things need traffic of all types. Whatever we build keep it accessible for most transportation needs.

It’s a very short season to justify such costs perhaps an indoor facility could thrive?

There isn’t enough support. According to the 2016 statistics there are roughly 9,200 people 0-14 years of age and 2,900 between 15-19. That leaves the youth population of Brandon at about 12,000 people. Add in a few adults and you might get up to 20,000 participants in Brandon to use the facility each year. If you look at other places like Souris the venue is of smaller size. It is multi-functional as you see they have classes like aqua fit, swimming lessons, private bookings, and it is situated within a busy campsite. Same as Wawanesa and their pool. Building a waterpark will not bring in tourists. It will just give visitors an extra think to do during the summer. Nobody is going to want to target Brandon just for the waterpark. Having waterparks by campgrounds is perfect as you have a changeover in visitors. Honestly how many times are you going to go to a waterpark at 15 bucks a person per visit? Looking at the splash parks how often they get used during semi warm weather…still in twenties but cloudy, nobody barely visits them. At least camping with a pool/water park play area you are inclined to use the facility more so if you are just weekend camping. Brandon would get bored of a waterpark pretty fast, then you would read on here how nobody can afford to go more than one or two times a summer.

Maybe. Or maybe it would thrive. Portage splash island is not situated in the middle of a campground. They have a lot of out of towners in their facility. And why could this pool not offer swimming lessons and aquafit classes as well. Splash parks are different than pools. When it is in the low 20's it is a lot nicer to swim in a heated pool than it is to stand out in the cool air with freezing cold water. They could also offer different swim times like a late night adult swim. Brandon may have 20,000 people willing to use the facility, but what about surrounding towns and cities. I bet there is at least another 10,000 people. I personally took my autistic client to Souris 3 times this summer and to Splash Island as well specifically for swimming. I also went to Splash Island with my family and to Souris with my family as well. People like to travel to fun places in the summer. Maybe hoping for a couple of waterslides is too much, but a new heated pool with a diving board and at least a kiddie slide. I like to think that is within reach.

Tdawg said "Maybe. Or maybe it would thrive. Portage splash island is not situated in the middle of a campground. They have a lot of out of towners in their facility. And why could this pool not offer swimming lessons and aquafit classes as well. Splash parks are different than pools. When it is in the low 20's it is a lot nicer to swim in a heated pool than it is to stand out in the cool air with freezing cold water. They could also offer different swim times like a late night adult swim. Brandon may have 20,000 people willing to use the facility, but what about surrounding towns and cities. I bet there is at least another 10,000 people. I personally took my autistic client to Souris 3 times this summer and to Splash Island as well specifically for swimming. I also went to Splash Island with my family and to Souris with my family as well. People like to travel to fun places in the summer. Maybe hoping for a couple of waterslides is too much, but a new heated pool with a diving board and at least a kiddie slide. I like to think that is within reach. "

Our daughter goes to SMD day camps, and they visit pretty much every pool and waterslide in Western/Southern Manitoba during the course of the summer. Build it and they will come... but all of those places did extensive fundraising. The burden was not on the tax payer alone.  
 
We spent time in Saskatoon this summer. While they have nice rec facilities and we visted some pools there, they also have a much higher population. A lot of it is private-public partnerships there.

There is truth to those numbers but they may write off a multi huge complex but not a pool to replace one that is very well used. The kid count in the east end alone speaks to that. Several years back we did our own head count on users for the rink and we were over 8200 for the season.  
 
I know if a new pool is in the works instead of a upgrade or closure we need one. No clue how pricey it would be but my bet that like the old one there is a fifty year life to it. So whatever is is decided at for a price and divide that into 50. Yes of course yearly expenses but very few recreation services provided by city or Provinces is cost recoverable. Like transit. A glorified version of what we have now with new showers and change rooms is one more thing to keep kids busy and amenity we need.Closing it is backasswards

one problem why cities whatever don't go for slides or diving boards is the liability issue. People especially kids can get injured easily.  
 
I think the focus on new swimming pools with the showers and changing rooms mentioned above is better as long as you have lights for later swimming and of course security.  
 
Private fundraising is a must. with a partnership with the city. Plus looking at any government grants that may be available.  
 
and one in the west would be great along with a new one where the east one is.

City came out with this survey recently and I thought of this thread. A great chance to provide feedback and get updated on the direction the city goes with recreation options...  
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/brandonrecsurvey

You mean you have to drive a whole 15 minutes tops to get to another splash park or pool in the city? The horrors! bahahaha  
 
Edited by yellowstraw, 2018-11-27 08:52:02

Thanks for posting this survey Adam, It’s nice to be able to give your suggestions. I did the survey and it took me approx 10 minutes if anyone is wondering.

This general topic is back in the news over the last week with the need for something better being identified during the process of the City building its new Recreation Plan. No firm plans but the idea of phasing out the two old pools and replacing with something bigger seems to be working its way onto the radar. I posted a little more at:  
https://ebrandon.ca/buzzpost.aspx?buzz_id=239  
 
Wont pretend to know all of the key points on demand and feasibility but my curiosity goes toward what kind of scale a facility would have. Build too small and in a city this size with as much pent up demand as IMO there might be and it could be overcrowded on the kinds of nice summer days it would be built for. There's probably risk at the other end of the spectrum in making too big of a commitment, especially beyond whatever its deemed could be supported by fair user fees!

There are so many towns much smaller then Brandon that have much better outdoor water parks/pools....Souris, Portage, Wawanesa just to name a few. Why can these small towns have these type of facilities and Brandon can’t?

tend to do a lot of community fundraising for their pools and water parks. While they also do get some government funding.