By Chad Paulin
After years of uncertainty, the Plant Pool project may finally get off the ground — if it can clear some hurdles first.
The City of Ottawa’s proposed 1999 budget sets aside $2 million to help pay for a new recreation complex. But that funding comes from federal payments the city isn’t guaranteed to receive.
That concerns Somerset Coun. Elisabeth Arnold who says the $6-million project — which would transform the pool into a new aquatic complex — is important.
“City council has identified Plant Pool as the No. 1 capital priority,” Arnold says. “There should be real money set aside for this project, not tenuous money.”
Still, she says the fact the funding was included in the proposed budget proves the city is taking the project seriously. She says the pool, located at the corner of Preston and Somerset streets, was an important part of the community before it was declared structurally unsafe and closed in 1996.
“This is a good catalyst to having the pool built as soon as possible,” she says. “The loss of this pool has been devastating to this inner-city community.”
The federal government gives municipalities grants instead of paying property taxes on buildings it owns. While the proposed budget assumes the city’s grant will be about $55 million in 1999, the federal government hasn’t said how much it will get.
Meanwhile, Arnold says the city should look to find other money for the project.
“In a capital budget of millions of dollars, at least $2 million should go to Plant Pool and we need the money to make that happen,” she says, noting extra money from sewers and roads could be used.
Mayor Jim Watson agrees.
“I think we owe it to the community to put some money into the reserve fund that is more firm,” he says. “I think it’s very unfair that the community has been out working very hard fund-raising for this project and we haven’t got firm money in the budget.”
Both Watson and Arnold hope to find other money before city council finalizes its budget in February.
“We need to send a clear signal that the council is committed to the project and we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” Watson says, noting it’s one of the few new projects to receive money in a proposed budget that holds the line on taxes, spending and service cuts.
He says he hopes more money can be found in forthcoming years so the centre can finally be built.
Sally Rutherford of the Plant Pool Recreation Association says the proposed budget is a promising first step.
“The pool was the focal point for the community,” she says. “It is crucial.”