Fresh design options are being sought for a new $105 million pool complex near Tauranga’s city centre.

A facility with a bombing pool, splash pad, toddler pool, eight indoor swimming lanes and two outdoor lanes was approved by Tauranga City Council’s commission to replace the outdoor pool and the QEII Youth Centre at Memorial Park.

The council elected in July to replace the commission paused the pool project in October to seek more information and community consultation.

At a meeting on Thursday, the council decided to keep the project on hold to look at other design options.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale said council was still committed to build an aquatic facility at Memorial Park and pausing the current design was only to ensure value for money.
Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the council wanted to ensure they were getting value for money with the proposed facility. Photo / David Hall

He said the public survey results has swayed his own position and reaffirmed that the council should build the facility.

The two-week survey finished last Friday and Tauranga City Council received more than 5200 responses.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of respondents supported additional aquatic facilities in Tauranga.

And around the same number (72%) supported the plan to spend between $80m and $105m on the Memorial Park aquatic centre.

The most-wanted pool feature was a learn-to-swim pool, followed by an indoor 50m lane pool. A leisure pool was third in the rankings.

Bay Venues chief executive Chad Hooker said the survey highlighted that the city was short on aquatic facilities that operate at full capacity during peak times.

An artist's impression of the gym at the proposed Memorial Park Aquatic Centre in Tauranga. Image / Tauranga City Council

Councillor Rod Taylor said the council needed to deliver the facility within a reasonable timeframe.

“Let’s get on with this and make it happen.”

Hooker said if the decision was made to proceed with the early next year it would not be completed until 2028.

Members of the public also shared their thoughts about the centre at council meeting on Tuesday.

Sport Bay of Plenty strategic partnership general manager Larissa Cuff encouraged the council to continue with the aquatic centre but build multiple pools, not an 50m one.

“Sport Bay Plenty’s preferred option is multiple pools of varying sizes to allow for a more dedicated spaces for different activities.”

A feasibility study for the Memorial Park recreation hub said Tauranga’s aquatic network had insufficient leisure facilities, which supported the recommendation for multiples pools for different uses, said Cuff.

An artist’s impression of the indoor swimming lanes at the $105m Memorial Park Aquatic Centre in Tauranga. Image / Tauranga City Council

Champion swimmer Moss Burmester supported a 50m Olympic-sized pool, saying he grew up in Tauranga but had to leave for his swimming career because the city lacked a 50m pool. Rotorua was the closest city with a 50m pool.

A 51m pool could be turned into two 25m pools with a 1m bulkhead but the ideal situation would be to have a 51m and 25m pool, he said.

Now an Aquatic Survival Skill Skills Trust board member, Burmester said Tauranga had less aquatic space than other areas and the trust believed there was a correlation between this and the number of drownings in the city.

He also urged the council to keep the Ōtūmoetai pool to add to the aquatic network.

“The key is to keep as much aquatic space as possible.”

The commission decided to decommission the 50-year-old Ōtūmoetai pool once the aquatic centre was built because of significant structural and age-related issues.

Suzie Edmonds started Save The Otumoetai Pool - Project STOP. Photo / David Hall

Suzie Edmonds, who started Save The Ōtūmoetai Pool - Project STOP, urged the council her mission was to keep the pool open.

Drysdale said the decision about the Ōtūmoetai Pool was made by the commission and the new council was yet to decide its future.

Greg Cummings, director of Liz van Welie Aquatics, a privately owned aquatic facility and swim school, asked the council to pause and re-engage with Tauranga’s aquatic sector.

They had over 200 swimmers use their learn to swim pool and they booked out lanes at the Greerton Pool to cater for their other swim squads

He favoured a scaled-back facility at Memorial Park for recreation and a purpose-built 52m pool elsewhere in the city for competitive sports.

Drysdale said they had heard the community wanted a 50m pool but one in the Memorial Park centre “does not make sense”.

As part of their reporting the council would look at options for a 50m pool elsewhere in the city, he said.

Staff would report back to council about aquatic options and keeping the Ōtūmoetai pool open by February 2025.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.