COURT PUTS THE BRAKES ON PLAN TO DEMOLISH AQUATIC CENTRE
TEAM Park Board candidates play key role in fight for a world-class VAC
VANCOUVER, Oct. 13 – People power works! The B.C. Court of Appeal today ruled that the City and the Park Board can’t go ahead with their plan to demolish the Vancouver Aquatic Centre until Nov. 3. That’s the day after the inaugural meeting of the newly-elected Park Board commissioners.
This comes after TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Park Board candidate Jon Girard and the Protecting Our Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society (POVACS) sought an interim injunction against the plan to demolish the VAC.
"This is momentous,” says Girard. “Interim injunctions are among the hardest things to win in any court, and we just won one against the City. The Court didn't decide what kind of pool Vancouver gets – it made sure the people's representatives still get to decide.”
Vancouverites voted in 2022 to borrow for a 50-metre pool renewal. In March 2025 the Park Board approved a replacement facility with a 25-metre pool after staff said a 50-metre one could not fit within the existing building footprint without sacrificing other amenities.
The ABC-led City Council subsequently endorsed the 25-metre design. The huge public outcry against that decision led ABC to do yet another of its familiar flip-flops and back a 50-metre pool.
Girard says the Aquatic Centre is where competitive swimmers train, where masters and clubs swim lengths, and where the city hosts meets. “A 25-metre replacement can’t provide that,” Girard says.
Girard and fellow TEAM Park Board candidate Mayeli Alvarez, both keen swimmers, have been in the forefront of the fight to have a 50-metre pool in the new Aquatic Centre. POVACS raised over $115,000 from the public through crowdfunding to pay the necessary legal fees.
“We deserve a say in how our public facilities are renewed,” says Alvarez. “Are we going to continue letting bureaucrats and developers reshape the city we live in? The amount of effort the community has had to put into telling our elected officials exactly what we expected in 2022 is outrageous. ABC, COPE, Greens, OneCity, the Vancouver Liberals and Vote Vancouver have all ignored the thousands of residents who have been fighting for a 50-metre pool.”
The fight isn’t over. TEAM mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick says there’s only one way to ensure today’s court victory isn’t just a temporary one.
“This is an important win for the people of Vancouver,” says Hardwick. “Let's make sure to elect TEAM Park Board candidates to ensure the retention of a 50-metre pool at the VAC.”
