FSJ requests PRRD letter of support for grant funding submissions for new aquatics facility

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St. John is requesting the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) provide a letter of support for future grant funding submissions for the city’s new aquatics facility. 

At the July 23 Committee of the Whole meeting, the city’s aquatics facility’s working group presented a project update to the PRRD board.  

This comes after the city approved an additional $1.2 million to be transferred from the capital reserve to validate the construction costs for the new aquatics facility.

In March, the city released the first concept designs for the new pool facility with an estimated price tag of $185 million. 

The facility’s working group took over the project in September 2025, after the PRRD announced its departure from the North Peace Leisure Pool replacement and left the project to the city. 

Since then, the working group has been conducting public engagement sessions, and the city hopes to start construction in 2027. 

The new pool will include an eight-lane, 25-metre pool with diving boards, a three-lane, 25-metre warm-water pool, a leisure pool with a lazy river, swim lesson space and a splash pad. 

In the city’s July 23 presentation to the PRRD, Fort St. John city councillor Trevor Bolin said the new pool facility will provide more space, modern amenities, improved accessibility, and become a regional hub. 

Phase one of this project will include an aquatics facility and a fieldhouse containing a FIFA-sized regulation soccer pitch. Phase two of the project will include two gymnasiums and a full-sized exterior synthetic turf field. 

“It’s another escape [and] another avenue for people to enjoy their summers and their winter months,” Bolin said. 

Dan Rose, director of Area E, asked why there is no referendum for the regional district. 

Bolin explained, “We’ve got our capital component [and] we’ve got an operational component. The capital component is solely done by the City of Fort St. John. It was about a $280 million budget at that point in time for what we’re going to be building right now for $185 million.”

The city’s goal was to take the plan and find a price point the community was comfortable with, which, during polling, came to about $30 to $40 a month. The city took those costs and the design to make it work within people’s budgets. 

“So the capital is the referendum side of it, which is just a city vote because it’s [the] city that’s going to own it and operate it,” Bolin said. 

Director and Mayor Lilia Hansen asked how much larger the new aquatics facility will be compared to the North Peace Leisure Pool. 

Bolin said, “This pool has 103 per cent more water base than what we find in the North Peace Leisure Pool…it is a larger facility with more basin space.” 

He explained the current pool is 1.8 metres [deep] with 6 lanes, while the new pool will be 2.5 metres [deep] with 10 lanes. 

Bolin said the entire facility has been designed around eight years of public feedback. 

“We knew, when we went with the question of, are you willing to borrow up to $90 million for a new facility in the city of Fort St. John, we [will] get to the answer yes, because this is what we’ve heard people need,” Bolin added. 

When asked about how the facility’s working group arrived at the current estimate, he said, “Those original numbers were a Schedule D assessment and it had never gone farther than that because at that point in time, there wasn’t a location that was picked yet or there were lots of these different outstanding issues that still needed to be done.” 

When the city worked with architects, construction companies and design crews, the original estimates were wrong. 

“It was the ability to take the work the advisory committee under the regional district had done, which many of us were a part of and then fine-tune it into what we see today,” Bolin explained. 

“To be able to bring this down to $185 million, only $90 million max of borrowing, really changes the conversation people are having, not only in the City of Fort St. John, but in the region.” 

In addition, Bolin said the soccer pitch will have a hard-shell design rather than a dome structure or an air-inflated structure.

Bolin also presented the three funding scenarios the city developed, including voter-approved borrowing. 

“We’re really going to look toward city reserves, capital fundraising, regional and senior government funding,” Bolin added. 

He said the city has had discussions with the provincial and federal governments, ministers and the premier. 

Bolin hopes the project will fall under scenario one, which has a voter-approved borrowing of $60 million. 

The new pool, he said, is looking at a 31 per cent increase in expenses due to more water, more programming, bigger field houses and change rooms, more parking and multi-purpose rooms. 

“Part of the job we’re doing now is how do we get those operating expenses?” he said. 

“We respectfully request a letter of support for future grant funding submissions. We have been doing that with our area partners as well. It certainly carries more weight with the government when we see this being done for everybody in our region.” 

When asked about the regional and senior government fund by Councillor Rose, Bolin said, “That’s not specific to just the regional district; that is specific to some of our community partners, we’ve had interest from some of our First Nations areas that we work with.” 

Bolin said that when it comes to regional funding, it could be minor grants offered by the regional district for recreation or a larger partnership with neighbouring communities. 

He added, “There [are] some great grants that have not only just been released, but there are some further grants that are coming out very shortly, which we have been privy to in working with the ministers, which we will be applying for.” 

“That’s where we’re going to see that up to $90 million come down to $60 million.” 

Tumbler Ridge’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, asked what happens if the community votes no during the referendum. 

“If the referendum is a no, that is going to become a larger discussion amongst us all because the Northeast Leisure Pool does not have that many years left,” Bolin explained. 

“Fort St. John could then go back to its residents and say, ‘Maybe we get rid of the field house for now. What does it just look like as an aquatic facility?” 

Bolin said he has not seen this level of engagement and transparency in anything done by any form of government. 

“So, I would really be surprised if the residents did come back with a no, in knowing that some of their objections were that they did not want to borrow the entire amount, they did not want to see these large amounts, and not every option [was] exhausted.

Although the city has a backup plan, Bolin does not think the city will need to use it. During the presentation, he did not elaborate on what the backup plan entailed. 

After the presentation, the board of directors voted to include the presentation in a future meeting agenda to discuss it further