SUDBURY - While still not providing any timelines on when the long-closed Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool might be repaired and reopened, Laurentian University is saying it plans to initiate discussions with the City of Greater Sudbury on the pool’s future.
The Jeno Tihanyi Pool, which was built in 1972, was shut down in the spring of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and never reopened. In early 2022, with Laurentian University still undergoing insolvency restructuring, the pool started to leak.
With LU having exited insolvency in late 2022 and able to spend money on repairing more than the absolute essentials, Laurentian has been investigating what it would cost to repair and reopen the facility, and earmarked $300,000 in its 2023-24 budget for that purpose.
Laurentian has been providing the community — many of them eager to see the pool reopen — with regular updates on this file, with the most recent one issued Feb. 28.
Repair options report has not been made public
In December 2023, Laurentian received a repair options report from its consultant, JL Richards, which “has been reviewed by the university executives and governors in order to better understand the state of the facility,” the update from the university said.
The report on repair options for the pool has not to date been made public by the university, nor any information on how much those repairs will cost or any timelines to make them.
Although the university motion will seek help from Sudbury’s taxpayers to renew its athletic facilities, when Sudbury.com requested a copy of the document, the university declined to provide it.
“The report will be part of further conversations within the joint planning committee about the future of the Jeno Tihanyi Pool and would therefore remain confidential,” said a spokesperson for Laurentian.
Sudbury.com requested an interview with either a senior administrator or the chair of Laurentian’s board of governors, Vernon Cameron, to ask about more specifics regarding what it will take to repair the pool.
The university declined our request for an interview.
The topic of the pool was discussed in a closed meeting of Laurentian’s board of governors on Feb. 16.
Immediately following the meeting, Sudbury.com requested the motions that were passed, but Laurentian declined to provide the information. However, those motions were included in the Feb. 28 update to the community.
The board passed a motion to “... initiate discussions with the City of Greater Sudbury for the creation of a joint planning committee that will be responsible for the creation of a plan and funding model for the renewal of Laurentian's athletic facilities (including the pool).”
Further, the board also resolved that “... Laurentian University’s Executive Management engages in discussions on the future of the pool and athletic facilities as part of LU's strategic plan on campus renewal.”
The update from Laurentian said “these resolutions will enable further conversations about the future of the Jeno Tihanyi Pool and align those discussions with the broader decision-making framework that is guided by the university's strategic plan.
“We will be speaking with representatives from the City of Greater Sudbury about the joint planning committee when possible. We appreciate your understanding and patience through this process.”
Laurentian said it would “make every effort to provide another update” by April 30.
Discussions with City of Greater Sudbury
Given Laurentian’s plans to initiate discussions with the City of Greater Sudbury regarding the future of the pool, we also requested an interview with a city manager on the topic.
We instead received a brief written statement on the topic from the city.
“We are aware of the motion passed by the Laurentian University board, but have no information about the basis for it,” said the written statement from the city.
“We look forward to learning more about the support they are seeking. For example, this could be an opportunity to inform our ongoing Aquatics Service and Facility Review, since we have been talking with Laurentian and other community stakeholders about non-municipal pool infrastructure and their potential fit with community needs.”
The Aquatics Service and Facility Review mentioned above by the city is slated to be completed by September 2024, and looks at the repair status of Greater Sudbury’s inventory of pools and aquatic facilities, long-term plans and community needs and trends.
Update ‘a little disappointing,’ says swim coach
Swim clubs in northeastern Ontario have been pushing for the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool to be reopened, as it’s the only Olympic-sized pool in the northeast, saying the facility’s ongoing closure is hurting swim programs in the region.
Dean Henze, head coach of the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club, said he found the Feb. 28 update about his club’s long-closed home pool “a little disappointing.”
While the City of Greater Sudbury has indicated there has already been basic talks with Laurentian, “why hasn’t the next level of discussion come into play since December?” Henze asked. “How are you going to make an educated decision on the process you're going through if you haven't talked to your partners about the specifics?”
He said those discussions are probably going to have to be driven by the university. “The city's going to be happy to sit on their money,” Henze said. “They've got other things to do with it, I'm quite sure.”
On the other hand, he still hopes the City of Greater Sudbury, whose own pools are aging, will be willing to chip in some money to revamp the Laurentian pool.
“It's going to be a heck of a lot cheaper to do that then build a brand new pool,” Henze said in an interview with Sudbury.com earlier this winter.
With no announcement to date about when the pool might be reopened, the swim coach said “now it's up to those community user groups like us to stand together and start making some noise.”
Despite the university’s hope for some kind of deal with the city regarding the Laurentian pool, the city’s municipal pools are already in a declining state of repair.
The latest report, published at the end of November, 2023, noted in order to maintain municipal pools in their current “fair” condition, the city would need to spend approximately $601,518 per year on maintenance/asset renewal efforts for the next 10 years, according to a report by a team of consultants the city enlisted.
The city’s draft budget allocates approximately one-tenth of this funding requirement, with only $62,000 set aside per year for pool projects between 2024-27.
Various larger-scale capital projects are also recommended, including such things as roof replacements, foundation repair, change room renewal and other building/equipment replacement/upgrades, totalling $17.7 million across all five pools in the next 10 years.
As it stands, the city’s pools are on track to slip to an overall “poor” condition by 2030.
