A residents’ group has taken the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Park Board to court to stop plans to replace the Vancouver Aquatic Centre’s 50-metre pool with a 25-metre pool. The group is asking for an injunction to halt the pool’s scheduled June 28 clos
Friday’s courtroom session felt less like a technical dispute and more like a deadline people could see on the calendar.
A residents’ group is suing the City of Vancouver and the park board over the Vancouver Aquatic Centre renewal project. saying the city is moving to replace the current 50-metre pool with a 25-metre pool. The Protecting Our Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society (POVAC) is asking the judge for an injunction to stop the city from closing the pool as planned on June 28.
Lawyer Robbie Fleming, representing POVAC, argued that when residents voted to allow the city to borrow money for a replacement, they expected the new pool to be the same size.
“The 50-metre pool can be built in that location. It’s just a matter of priorities,” Fleming told the court.
The hearing came as plans for the redesign were to be presented to the city’s park board for a decision next Monday. with the proposed layout cutting the pool size in half. Fleming framed the central issue this way: whether the park board had the authority to change course on the project after receiving permission from voters to borrow money for the replacement.
The question over borrowing was put to residents as a plebiscite during the 2022 municipal election. The vote asked residents if the city could borrow $103 million for the “replacement, renewal or rehabilitation of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre.”
“Everybody thought they were talking about a 50-metre pool,” Fleming said.
He pointed to the voter information provided by the city ahead of the vote, arguing it made the intended outcome clear.
Some details from the city’s capital plan were also central to Friday’s arguments. The plan said the money would be used to “design and build the renewal and expansion” of the pool. It also described the project as being built in two phases. with the first phase “prioritizing the renewal of the 50-metre lap pool and diving pool.”.
But according to the lawsuit’s framing, even though voters approved the borrowing, park board staff later proposed that due to funding and site constraints, the city would instead build a 25-metre pool.
For the city, lawyer Iain Dixon pushed back. He told the court that the project did initially focus on a 50-metre pool but changed after park board staff determined it would not be feasible.
Dixon argued that the project fits within what voters were asked.
“The language used is broad enough to allow for the project to proceed,” he told the court.
He also said the case should not hinge on whether the park board had the authority to make a decision to build a smaller pool.
Instead, Dixon said the key issue was what city council approved. He told the court that council—holding the authority to reallocate plebiscite funds toward a different project—approved the decision in June 2025. when it voted to allocate extra funding toward the park board’s proposal to build a 25-metre pool.
“These issues were before council, and council made that decision. A unanimous decision to proceed with this particular project and to reallocate the funds,” Dixon told the court.
What makes this fight feel urgent is the clock ticking toward June 28.
At Friday’s hearing. POVAC also pressed its application to prevent the city from permanently closing the pool on June 28 while the larger court dispute plays out. The city has said the pool is at the end of its “functional lifespan” and is closing it as part of the renewal project. The pool is set to close to the public on June 28 as the city moves ahead with the renewal.
In court, Dixon argued against the injunction application, saying the pool has already been kept open as long as possible.
“[The pool] has been kept open for as long as it can … but at this point, park board staff are telling this court that they have genuine safety concerns and it is their belief that it should close,” Dixon said.
With the planned closure less than 10 days away, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Giaschi promised a decision on the injunction application on Tuesday.
The broader conflict has also been playing out among swimmers and users of the facility. The redesign has drawn anger over the training space it would eliminate, and the pool’s closure timeline has become the flashpoint for residents hoping the decision can still be stopped.
Vancouver Aquatic Centre 50-metre pool 25-metre pool POVAC injunction June 28 Vancouver Park Board City of Vancouver plebiscite $103 million
So they’re cutting it in half??
I don’t get why they’d spend all that money just to make the pool smaller. If people voted for a 50-metre pool then that’s what they should do. Sounds like politics over swimming to me.
Wait so is this like a legal thing about the “borrowing” or whatever? Because in my head it’s just like they promised one thing and did another. Also how is a judge even gonna stop a construction schedule, like isn’t June 28 already set in stone?
This is why local votes don’t mean anything. People were told $103 million for the replacement and suddenly it’s 25 metres like ??? And then it goes to court like it’s some technicality about who has authority. If they can build a 50-metre pool in that spot, then it’s literally just priorities like the lawyer said, right? I’m sure the city will still do it “for the community” somehow even if they lose.