It’s all gone. Demolition work at the Flin Flon Aqua Centre has now been, for the most part, completed.
The pool building itself, including the lobby, changerooms, upstairs weight room and all, has been levelled, with the cavity of the pool itself filled in with dirt and material from the site. The company hired by the City of Flin Flon to do the work, Winnipeg-based Rakowski Cartage and Wrecking, began work late last month to demolish the closed and condemned building.
After a series of short-term closures to fix issues with the building, the City of Flin Flon shut the facility down for the last time Jan. 28 after staff members noticed a pronounced bow in the pool area’s roof, over what used to be the pool’s deep end. Just over two weeks later, the pool was formally shut down for good after an engineering assessment of the building determined it was no longer safe for public use. The roof collapsed over the deep end area after a heavy snowfall last month, forcing the City to expedite demolition at the site.
Efforts to replace the pool facility began long before the shutdown - in Sept. 2019, the City approved a plan to spend $8.8 million, most of which would be raised through provincial and federal grants, to build a new Aqua Centre facility in the community. The plan would involve the City borrowing $1.8 million to make the deal happen. Despite the plan, delays from both grant-levying levels of government, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, have left the City and councillors with little new information on a pool replacement.
When asked at the Dec. 1 meeting of city council how discussions on a pool replacement have taken place, Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley did not say much but said he was optimistic good news would come soon.
“There’s nothing new that we can really talk about, but we’ve got some favourable indicators. There’s nothing significant to comment on there at this point in time.”
