The council is planning a $37 million upgrade of the Deccan Street facility, including a new 25 metre indoor lap pool, leisure pool, change rooms, staff amenities, cafe with connectivity to Victoria Park, new entrance, enlarged car park and eventually, upgrade of the 50-metre outdoor pool.

It was to split over three stages as funding allowed. But at Tuesday’s meeting councillors agreed to change the scope of works to take advantage of several opportunities. It leaves open the chance to secure funding for the entire redevelopment.

The council will vie for a $10m slice of the recently announced State Sports Infrastructure Fund for the improvements. Operations director Matt O’Rourke said other grant programs were also available.

“We know from past experience they are highly competitive and the applications need to stack up. We have to position ourselves to put in a high quality application,” he said.

That means having an approved development application embracing the entire project. Councillors agreed to expand architect dwp Australia’s brief to include additional planning, investigation and design for stage one and to prepare concept plans and a DA for the total upgrade. It means an extra $292,710 in fees.

The change allows a hydrotherapy, sauna, spa and outdoor play area to be included in stage one. It takes this phase’s cost estimate from $18.7m to $23.7m, a 25.7 per cent increase.

Mr O’Rourke said uncertainty over the future of Bourke Street Health service’s hydrotherapy pool was partly driving the change. It was a common theme in community feedback.

“It’s a much needed service in town but it’s also a regular feature of aquatic centres in other areas. This will pick up on a facility that may be lost from the hospital (Bourke Street),” Mr O’Rourke said.

Meantime, he told The Post the aquatic centre overhaul was long overdue, with the Olympic pool built in the 1950s and the indoor facility constructed more than 20 years ago.

“The indoor pool is used all year round and there’s not enough space to undertake all the activities,” he said.

“Since the early 2000s, overall visitation has halved. There are a number of reasons for that but one of them is the lack of space.”

The council is aiming to increase numbers. Mr O’Rourke said economic analysis suggested these needed to double for the centre to pay its way and entry fees had to increase to service loans. For adults this would be about $7 per visit, in contrast to the current $4 entry. Given that fees were reduced several years ago to boost patronage, he believed it was not such a large leap.

“If you go to aquatic centres elsewhere you can pay up to $10,” he said.

“We know fees are too low at the moment. That will have to be reassessed when we run the feasibility for the grant applications.” 

Entry fees for adults are proposed to rise to $4.50 for adults in 2018/19.

The aquatic centre upgrade also includes reconstruction, widening and improved disability access for the outdoor 50m Olympic pool.

A development application for the total project will be delayed until the end of May due to additions to the scope of works. The council hopes to call construction tenders early next year.

The project is just one included in the council’s draft 2018/19 draft operational plan released on Tuesday.

The $130m budget includes $60m in capital expenditure. Big ticket items include:

The council will raise $14.7m in loans, including $650,000 for Rocky Hill, $5.76m for the Performing Arts Centre, $3m for the waste management centre upgrade, $1.1m for the community centre and $4.25m for the aquatic centre.

General manager Warwick Bennett said the council was looking to borrow $9m of this from TCorp, the State Government’s low interest loan scheme. Fifty per cent of the cost of councils’ interest payments are refunded under the scheme.

He argued the council was economically better off doing this than dipping into its $90m in investments.

“It’s a great gift the State is giving us and we’ll make application soon,” he said.

“...I’m really excited about the budget and take enormous pride that we’ll be able to deliver a hell of a lot of key infrastructure upgrades and remain financially sustainable over 20 years.”