Canada Games Pool is set to host the Western Championships in 2014 - but it's come as a bit of surprise to the City of New Westminster.
Dean Gibson, the city's director of parks, culture and recreation, said it's believed that Swimming Canada approached Tourism Burnaby and asked it to submit a proposal to host the 2014 Western Championships next February. Tourism Burnaby then listed Canada Games Pool as a host facility because Burnaby's pools aren't equipped to host the event.
"It's a bit of a surprise and shock to all of us," Gibson said of the proposal that was made without approval from the City of New Westminster or the Hyack Swim Club.
The event schedule on Swimming Canada's website already shows that the Speedo Western Championships are slated to be held in New Westminster from Feb. 13 to 16, 2014.
"There is some expectation around that," Gibson said about holding the event at the local facility. "We have advised Swimming Canada that as of yet the city has not consented to use of the pool."
On Monday, council gave approval in-principle to making Canada Games Pool and Centennial Community Centre available for the event.
According to Gibson, the Hyack Swim Club hosted the same event at Canada Games Pool in 2002. He said officials from Swimming Canada visited the facility last week and determined that the absence of adequate seating for spectators was the only area flagged as needing improvement.
Gibson told council Monday that the event would require the entire Canada Games Pool facility to be closed for four days of competition and two days to prepare the facility for the event.
He noted that closing the pool to the public has impacts on both recreational swimming and instructional programs - in terms of access and possibly revenues.
With swimming lessons set to start on Jan. 6, 2014 and run for 10 weeks, Gibson said the city would have to skip a week, as the pool would be closed for the competition during what would normally be the final week of lessons. By skipping a week of lessons, he said those lessons would finish during the first week of next year's spring break.
According to Gibson, if 10 per cent of people who register for swim lessons opted not to register for that session because of conflicts with spring break that would result in a $10,000 impact on overall revenues for registered programs.
In addition to Canada Games Pool, the Western Championships would require some use of Centennial Community Centre, which could also impact revenues of that facility.
While Burnaby has bodies of water, Gibson said the event requires 25 metre swim lengths, as well as areas for warm-up and cool down, spectator seating and meeting rooms.
"We just happen to have most of those amenities," he said.
Gibson noted that the swimming championships will coincide with a curling bonspiel being held at the Royal City Curling Club. Parking would be the main issue with having the two events occurring at the same time.
From a financial perspective, Gibson said these type of events are not moneymakers. The city would recover some fees through rental of the facilities.
"It is essentially a breakeven proposition," he said.
Gibson added that local hotels and restaurants could financially benefit from the visitors who come to town for the event. In addition to some economic spinoffs, he said the benefit of hosting the event include being seen as supportive of high-level amateur sports and having a profile at the national level.
"At this stage of the game we need a bit of a go/no go decision, even if it's on an in-principle basis," he told city council Monday.
While it's "awkward" that someone else nominated the city facility as the host site for the event, Gibson said Hyack Swim Club is "very supportive" of hosting the event in New Westminster.
Having received council's in-principle support for the event, Gibson said staff would sit down with the Hyack Swim Club and Tourism Burnaby to work on detailed planning of the event, including the roles of the various groups and budgets.
Coun. Bill Harper wondered what Burnaby would think if New Westminster requested use of one of its facilities and had New Westminster's name on it. He said Tourism New Westminster "should be in this picture" and should work with Tourism Burnaby on the event.
Harper said New Westminster must be recognized at the event, as it's not going to serve as a suburb of Burnaby. When push comes to shove, he said the event will result in lost revenue for the city and could require extra expenses for some staffing services.
"For us, it is trying to expose the city to national audience and have our city talked about," he said.
Mayor Wayne Wright suggested the city should contact the federal and provincial governments to see if any grants are available that would help make the facility suitable for the swimming championships.
"It's a strange way how this has come about," Wright said.
Gibson said the city learned of the desire to hold the event at Canada Games Pool about three weeks ago. He said the city is still working to understand the "back story" about how New Westminster came to be on the application, without approval from the city itself.
According to Gibson, Tourism Burnaby has a sport hosting grant program that provides grants to help offer events that benefit Burnaby businesses.
As part of its program, Tourism Burnaby also offers services such as event promotion, volunteer assistance, welcome packages, and accommodations.
"One of the criteria of providing those grants is businesses in Burnaby need to be a beneficiary of the event," he told The Record. "Whether Tourism Burnaby will make a grant available for an event held in New Westminster, I don't know."
