Fredericton turns to N.B. commission to help settle standoff over funding for new pool
Local Governance Commission would weigh in on whether new pool should be financed regionally
A newly formed provincial commission is being asked to help resolve an impasse between New Brunswick municipalities that has left a proposed aquatic centre in procedural limbo.
Fredericton city councillors voted Monday to ask the Local Governance Commission to intervene after directors with the Capital Regional Service Commission failed to agree on whether the multimillion dollar project should be funded by neighbouring communities or solely by the city.
"If this can't be called a regional facility, I search and I search to see what would justify a facility being regional in nature," Coun. Eric Megarity said.
"It's sad that it comes down to this and I'm really disappointed."
A new aquatic centre has long been on the list of capital projects the city has planned to pursue. Pressure has mounted in recent years in light of the University of New Brunswick's plan to close the Sir Max Aitken Pool, where the city's competitive swim clubs are based.
Speaking to councillors on Monday, chief administrative officer Steve Hart said that in the past, the city would have to initiate large capital projects on its own and seek funding partners to make them happen.
The
aging Sir Max Aitken Pool is the only competitive swimming pool in
Fredericton, and the 2020 estimated cost of a replacement was $40
million. (Fredericton Diving Club)
Since local government reform in 2023, Hart said, the province has indicated it will only help fund large sport, recreational and cultural infrastructure if an entire region is working together to share costs.
The Capital Regional Service Commission, also known as RSC 11, is governed by a board of directors that includes the mayors of the municipalities within the region's boundaries.
In May, a committee within the regional commission recommended the proposed new pool be considered regional, with a cost-sharing formula based on population, tax base and proximity to the pool.
But in June, members of the board voted down three separate motions to categorize the aquatic centre as regional, sub-regional or local, leaving the project in procedural limbo.
Steve
Hart, the chief administrative officer for the City of Fredericton,
says a decision by the Capital Regional Service Commission's board in
June has left the pool project in an unclear position. (Aidan Cox/CBC)
"So the outcome, at this point, procedurally is unclear," Hart said.
"What was clear is that the majority of mayors of our region indicated that they did not want to participate in funding the pool via the RSC.
"And that leaves us, the City of Fredericton, in a predicament in terms of what are those pathways and how do we get there when there is an absolute need for an aquatic facility in in the city."
Uncharted territory
Monday's vote by councillors is aimed at getting the Local Governance Commission to review the decision by the regional commission, but the potential outcome is unclear, said Coun. Greg Ericson, who fills in for Mayor Kate Rogers as director when she's unavailable.
Ericson said he believes the pool project would be first to go through the review process and to be analyzed against the provisions in the Regional Services Delivery Act.
But he said he hopes the commission can either rule on whether the project should be regional or send the question back to the regional commission to decide.
Fredericton
Coun. Greg Ericson says it's unclear how the Local Governance
Commission will rule, but he hopes it helps settle whether the pool
project should be paid for partly by neighbouring communities or solely
by the city. (Aidan Cox/CBC)
"We would like to see them clarify how the act was supposed to be interpreted and then performed because, I mean, I don't think it was the intent of the legislators to have a facility come out through this process undetermined, right?" Ericson said.
According to information on the province's website, the Local Governance Commission is an arm's-length, independent expert body that is mandated to rule or make recommendations on matters affecting local governments, local boards, regional service commissions and rural districts.
The resolution voted for on Monday also has the city asking the province if it would help fund the pool, even if it doesn't get support from regional partners.
Ericson said the city hoped to build the pool with help from neighbouring municipalities.
Without that, the project would cost Fredericton residents more and would result in steep user fees for people living just outside city limits.
A cost estimate for the aquatic centre hasn't been provided since 2020, when it was pegged at about $40 million, and a detailed design process for the proposed pool is still underway.
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Get your priorities right.
Ask the people of Fredericton via referendum if they want to pay for it or if they can even afford higher taxes with electricity rates up, property tax up, food up, insurance up, every service cost is up. Wages are stagnant. Need vs want.
- your local councillors , mayors and politicians
Invasion of the giant goldfish: Pets overrun local swimming hole
Discarded goldfish grow and multiply, potentially causing chaos in local ecosystem
Getting a goldfish is easy.
Getting rid of them? That's a whole other story.
On a hot August afternoon at the Cuts — a popular swimming hole in Springfield, near the head of Belleisle Bay — swimmers paddle and dive off the tall cliffs.
Darting through the water are dozens of orange, white and calico goldfish.
Some are thumb-sized, like the ones you'd see in a pet store. Others are bigger than your hand.
A handful of goldfish were in the Cuts last summer. But this year, they've multiplied — and fattened up.
The Cuts, as it's called by locals, is a popular swimming hole and hangout known for its crystal-clear water. (Julia Wright / CBC)
"To be honest, they are the biggest goldfish I've ever seen," said Saint Johner Riley Keenan, who estimates some fish are 10 inches, or about 25 centimetres, long.
"it's just a weird thing to see."
"I've swam with fish before," said swimmer Bonnie Ferguson."But goldfish? Not so much."
How'd they get there?
The goldfish didn't get to the Cuts on their own.
The best theory is that "they were someone's pet that they released," said Graeme Stewart Robertson, executive director of the Atlantic Coastal Action Program in Saint John.
One of the beefier specimens sharing the water with swimmers at the Cuts. (Brian Chisholm / CBC)
Goldfish sell at local pet stores from just 29 cents to $7 apiece — making them an easy impulse buy.
But the consequences of setting Goldie free are far-reaching.
"When they're released in the wild, they can grow much larger — sometimes even a couple of feet long or longer," he said.
Rogue goldfish have also been spotted in Rockwood Park's Fisher Lakes and other bodies of water in the Saint John region, according to Stewart-Robertson.
ACAP workers pulling a shopping cart out of Ritchie Lake in Quispamsis once found "a goldfish that had grown so large that it clearly couldn't have entered through the gaps of the cart mesh metal anymore," Stewart-Robertson said.
"They grow to the size of the environment."
In the Cuts — a pool formed when gravel pit excavators hit a natural spring — the goldfish are isolated from other waterways.
But elsewhere, fugitive goldfish are a serious problem.
Graeme
Stewart Robertson, executive director of the Atlantic Coastal Action
Program in Saint John, says the release of pet goldfish into the wild
can have far-reaching consequences. (Julia Wright / CBC)
They've choked out ponds in St. Albert, Alta., closed fishing lakes near Terrace, B.C., and invaded the harbour in Hamilton, Ont.
In Hamilton, scientists with Fisheries and Oceans Canada started banding and tracking the fish after up to two million goldfish were estimated to live in the harbour in 2016.
They tear up vegetation — and with no natural predators — throw the local aquatic ecosystem into chaos.
Workers sedate and tag a giant goldfish in Hamilton Harbour on Lake Ontario. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
"They'll just keep feeding and growing for many years until they're causing competition problems for local, native fish," Stewart-Robertson said.
- Alberta city guts ponds of invasive 'monster' goldfish
- Goldfish invasion closes popular lake to fishing in northwestern B.C.
The Cuts quarry is deep enough that goldfish can spend the winter below the frost line and return in the spring to keep breeding.
"Unless something eats them," Stewart-Robertson said.
Regular-sized
goldfish — a paltry one or two inches long, compared to the monstrous
sizes they can grow to in the wild — swim at a tank in a pet store in
Saint John. (Julia Wright / CBC)
"I'm sure there are some local birds of prey who are looking forward to easily spotting a bright fish in the environment."
Radical anti-goldfish measures employed elsewhere in Canada include include electrocuting them or killing them with a natural pesticide called Rotenone.
But for the people flocking to the Cuts to swim and take pictures, swimming with the fishes is a novelty — at least for now.
Hunter, pictured with some of the hundreds of goldfish in the Cuts. (Julia Wright / CBC)
"It's kind of a nice surprise when you're out for a swim," said Riley Keenan.
"It's a cool experience to see them here."
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I am a hillbilly who likes museums and swimming holes
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