Acadia University\'s Athletic Complex Business Case

$50.00 plus one hour labour ($10.81) for each lane rope repair when wire needs to be replaced, which is every 3rd rope. Other 2 cost labour of guard for 1 hour.
Figure 1. Note that Masters swim 6:30-7:30 AM Monday, Wednesday, Friday and share with Varsity.
There are only 2 50meter pools in Nova Scotia, both in Halifax.
A large meet in Nova Scotia would have over 2,000 people in attendance, with over 600 people on deck for finals for 4-6 days. A large-scale National meet normally has 1,500 swimmers and over 3,000 non-athletes in attendance, for 5-7 days.
New Truro pool opened summer of 2013.
The Kinesiology building is on top of the old pool.
Main mode of transportation for the working population is vehicles (making up 92.1% of transportation) in the Annapolis valley (4). In 2006, the median income for individuals in Annapolis Valley was $22,602 a year, compared with the median of $24,030 for Nova Scotia. Families in Annapolis Valley had a median income of $51,881, compared with the median of $55,412 for Nova Scotia.
Memorial University and Mount Allison University both rent pool space, but as a result can attend fewer meets and have smaller teams.
Average pool usage for the 1:30-2:00 PM shift was 1.25 patrons over the half hour, down from 7.5 from 1:00-2:00 PM.
A senior meet that is part of a National circuit and requires time standard qualification of World Trail caliber.
With the current price of tuition, at 10 members the University starts to financially benefit from the Varsity Swim team.
Digby hosts summer club provincials and brought in over $250,000 to the community and surrounding areas over a 2.8 day period, based on a study done by Dr. Brian VanBlarcom. A major meet hosted by the Tritons without a cap on attendance due to facility limitations would bring in at least as many people (5).
The Truro pool was designed by a contractor who had no experience with pools and it is less than ideal for competition.
Figure 6
Figures 2 and 3. There is a low population density in Annapolis Valley, meaning the population is spread out (2). Wolfville only has 4269 residents (not counting students)(3).
See pages 94-101 in "Lidar processing and Flood Risk Mapping for Coastal Areas in the District of Lunenburg, Town and District of Yarmouth, Amherst, Count Cumberland, Wolfville and Windsor". Building by the current Athletics Complex would place the new structure in a high-risk flood zone.


Acadia University Aquatic Complex Case
Within weeks of guarding at the Acadia pool, it became obvious to Mae Foster that something was seriously wrong with the lane ropes. After working at three different pools in three different cities, while lane ropes broke, it was never with the frequency of those at the Acadia pool. Most pools would lose three lane ropes or less in a year— Acadia was going through that in a month. Three years later brings us to the present (2013-14) and the problem has persisted and progressed. Lane ropes break almost daily, the wrench used to take them out of the pool rusts so quickly that it needs to be replaced every few weeks, and almost new lockers in the change rooms look like they are decades old after scant months exposed to any run-off from the pool and patrons.
Mae did a little research into this, and discovered that the reason for this rapid deterioration is the salt-based Bromine chemical that the pool uses to replace the (standard) liquid chlorine. While harsher and harder to control, the Bromine is cheaper, especially in the salt form, which has led many pools to make the switch. However, last year the pump at the pool (which is what keeps the chemical levels steady) broke causing the chemical levels to become very unstable—so high at times that it borders on illegal, and so low at others the amount of bacteria in the pool must rival that of a swamp on a hot summer day— because the chemicals must now be manually managed. Lately the levels have stabilized, but only because they run very high, as a precaution to ensure the pool water will not make patrons ill.
Recently, when the athletics complex was destined to have a $5, 000, 000 renovation, more issues with the pool came to light. On top of the pump, the pool also has a leak, causing it to lose hundreds of thousands gallons of water over the year, which is very expensive. There is also a leak in the roof that will require attention soon, and the air quality in the pool is dropping due to the advanced age of the air circulation system.
The pool is beginning to sincerely fall apart due to lack of attention over the last few decades. While it is unclear as to how much money the pool is losing due to the state of disrepair it has fallen into, it is clear that Acadia is not achieving the maximum benefit from the running of a pool.
Community at the Acadia Pool:
Mae knew that there were more than technical problems with the pool, as demands for the time of a small six lane pool had skyrocketed after the re-introduction of the Varsity swimming team, leading to a scheduling nightmare. Too many groups want the same time slot, and it has resulted in a huge loss of potential profit for the pool. Currently, the Tritons get the most ideal times, with the Varsity team getting the next best. However, the Masters and Town of Wolfville Triathlon group, as well as the public and lessons are left with little to work with as far as desirable times go. The most desirable slot during the weekdays is from 3:30- 7:00 PM, as that is when most people will be off work, and children will be out of school. All but the first 30 minutes of this slot is taken up by Tritons or Varsity every day of the week, and twice a week even the pool is booked until 8:00 PM.
As a swimmer herself, Mae knew that what the town (and surrounding areas) need is a larger pool. With the current state of Swim Nova Scotia, it has become obvious that a new 50m pool is needed. In September of 2013, the fire chief of Halifax announced that the new capacity for Dalplex was 400, and that has been amended and lowered since. This means that Dalplex would no longer host large meets and the only other 50m pool in the province, Centennial, has little deck space and viewing, making it ill-suited to hosting any meet of a Senior level. The only other place to build a new 50m pool that is within an hour of an airport and has the necessary population to support it in the area is Truro, and seeing as they built a new pool recently, there is little hope that yet another one would be on their agenda whilst still paying off the first.
There are three main branches of decision open to Acadia.
Three routes:
Close down the pool entirely. It is old, dying and needs to be put out of its misery.
Build a new pool.
Renovate the pool.
1. Closing down the pool:
Mae personally did not like this option, as it would put her both out of a job and unable to do her favorite activity, but it bore thinking about. If the school decided to drain the pool, get rid of aquatics, and leave the area dormant, they would no longer have to allocate a budget to the pool, and seeing as there has been talk of starting up a Nursing school at Acadia the area could be converted to classrooms. This is what Acadia did the last time the school closed a pool.
This would mean firing 30 lifeguards (mostly students) as well as getting rid of one, if not two management positions. However, the community would also be negatively impacted by the closure, as the Wolfville Tritons Swim Team (one of the best small teams in Canada) would have to either move to share pool space with the Windsor team or the Greenwood team, or disband. Swimming lessons would be harder to find for young children, and become more expensive, which is undesirable anywhere, but especially somewhere with the poverty rate of the Annapolis Valley. While most people in the Annapolis Valley have cars, they do not have a lot of spare money and operate just above the poverty line on average. Public swims would also be cancelled, as well as the initiatives, like Cardiac Rehab, for seniors in the community. S.M.I.L.E. would also suffer the loss of the pool.
This would also mean the Varsity team would most likely have to be cut as well. There are teams that rent pool space in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference but that is expensive and restricts the number of meets the teams can attend, and those teams are normally unable to host meets. If Acadia were to leave the conference, the AUS would drop to 5 teams, and seeing as UPEI is struggling to keep afloat, it is entirely possible that the conference would shrink to only 4 teams, effectively killing competition in the AUS.
Realistically, this particular option would be very difficult to implement, and would also meet with great resistance from the community. Mae remembered how, in an attempt to save money, the pool tried to cut half an hour from the afternoon swim because very few people had attended it in the past 2 years. There were floods of emails and calls asking why this had to happen and demanding that the half hour be re-instated. Due to extreme pressure from the public, the Aquatics department relented and put the half hour back in the schedule. It was gone for less than six weeks.
2. Build a new pool:
While this option held the most appeal for Mae, who spends so much time at the pool that she should either have shares or pay rent, it is also the least feasible financially. The university has little to no money for anything, and building a new pool is something that Acadia simply could not justify when there are so many other things that the school could benefit from before a new pool. The funds for a new pool would have to come entirely from outside sources, and students would most likely have to be charged more money by the Acadia Students Union to cover the costs of operating a new pool.
Mae had overheard some parents from the Tritons talking about how their kids had rashes from the pool, and from the description Mae knew that they were chemical burns. The parents went on to say that they agreed with another mother who had brought up the need for a new pool after the ventilation system broke down in the fall, and the pool became something akin to a gas tank, causing practices to be cancelled. Others from the community had mentioned problems with the current pool that a new one could solve, such as temperature and availability.
Pros of a new pool:
A new pool would attract more of the public, especially if there could always be one side of the 50meter pool open to the public to swim and run lessons, the scheduling conflicts would become non-existent. Mae knew that historically, the only way pools make consistent money is to run many sets of lessons, and just on the weekends does not cut it. The prime hours are taken up almost exclusively by Varsity and the Tritons, which leaves little time for the public and Triathlon/Masters groups, but would not pose an issue in the 50m pool. It would also allow the Varsity team to grow to a full team of 20 males and 20 females in the future, which is currently impossible (which also makes an AUS title incredibly improbable, if not straight out impossible). The team is near capacity at 10 and 10 (or 20 total) currently. With Luc Boudreau having won Canada Cup in November and winning a Silver at Canadian Inter-university Sport Swimming Nationals as an Axeman, the team is obviously getting stronger. Combined the Axemen and Axewomen came 16th at C.I.S. Nationals despite only sending two of their three qualified members, and a full roster being that of 20 females and 20 males.
A new pool would be financially good for the school and pose as a good recruiting tool, not just for their swimming team but also for students who simply wish to be able to go for a swim. It would also allow the Tritons to grow more, as they are also cramped with their numbers. Mae remembered teams she had been on that have had to turn the youth away because there is not enough room, and that is the last thing any team wants. Being able to host large meets is another factor in the decision to have a long course pool, as there are currently very few pools that can properly host a large scale meet in Atlantic Canada, and none that would win a bid in Nova Scotia.
Cons of a new pool:
The initial cost of the pool would be significant, and if not done properly it would be a waste of money. The way that swimming is going as a sport, building anything less than a 50m pool would be a waste, as that is the Olympic standard. Doing yet another half-measured pool for Nova Scotia would be unproductive. However, there would need to be more staff on deck, and raised pay would also be necessary as they are currently skilled labour getting less than the unskilled labour upstairs in the gym, which does little to attract a good pool staff. Having worked at a large pool before, Mae knew that with a 50m pool containing features, the staff would have a lot more responsibility, and there would be an expected raise in pay to come with the raise in responsibility, as well as a need for a higher level of guard. Another worrisome cost that comes with a larger and higher equipped pool is insurance. The pool currently boasts no features and is 6 lanes only, making it near the cheapest possible to insure. That would not be the case with the new pool aiming at families to have lessons and attend public swims.
There is a certain attitude around the Acadia pool of complacency. It does not appear to be the case that anyone thinks, despite knowing that a new pool is necessary, that a pool could reasonably be built, and thus are unwilling to think of a new pool being an option. This attitude of complacency goes straight through the management and into the guards and down to the patrons. It is ingrained and accepted.
3. Renovate the current pool:
A total renovation of the pool has not been done since the 70s, and the general upkeep has been poor. To properly renovate the pool and bring it into the 21st century would be costly, an ultimately ineffective, as the pool is only 6 lanes and already has limited deck space, so even expanding the wings to become an 8 lane pool would not be a feasible (or cost effective) option. The pool is losing money and does not have the ability to meet the demands of a varsity team, age group team, triathlon group and a budding Masters program as well as the public's demands and swim lessons. The pool also cannot break records of any kind, as it is not the right exact length, but a little longer, meaning even if the pool were to be 8 lanes (and meet AUS standards for hosting Championships) the pool would be deemed ineligible. The change rooms and showers also just went through an improvement, but quickly began looking dingy and old again, due to the corrosive effects of the Bromine, rendering further renovations ill-advised and somewhat useless.
Comparative situation:
The Revelstoke Aquatic Center has much in common with the Acadia pool. As the only pool around that is 6 lanes and open regularly within 30 minutes both directions, it has a lot of community expectation to live up to. The Revelstoke pool employs 12 full-time guards and instructors, as well as a manager and a Head Guard. Three of the 12 guards are Deck Supervisors. The population base is roughly 15, 000 people within half an hour of the pool, and the average income is comfortably above the poverty line, but cost of living is very high. Being a town that revolves around the Ski resort, there is a large influx in population while the Ski season is on, much like the spike Wolfville enjoys when the students are around. However, the Revelstoke pool pays their guards more, charges the same admission fee for single entry, and has to run two pools, not just one, on a very small budget. They manage this because the lessons are always running, almost all year round, and the pool rarely needs repairs. The maintenance staff does little to no work above the deck, and only deals with the inner-workings of the pool, as it is the guard's duty to keep the pool clean and chemically balanced.
Conclusion:
Mae sat on the bench, thinking. One would not know looking at the clear water just how much trouble the pool was in, and it was obvious that the pool has to change something. It is not currently in good enough shape to operate as a functional part of Acadia in an effort to make money for the school. Even sitting as she was, Mae knew that at any other pool she had worked at this action of sitting while on duty would result in immediate termination, but here, she knew the worst she would get would be a warning from one boss, and the other would probably join her and start chatting after telling her off halfheartedly. All the guards knew this, and also knew that the pool needed every single guard due to the limits placed on most guards by class schedules. The low pay attracted very few skilled guards, and those that were skilled tended to slip down to the lowest common denominator. Hopefully a new facility would change both of those factors. However, there is a low population density in the Annapolis Valley, and the population is of low income, with most of the population being between the ages of 35 and 54. So while a new facility could perhaps generate jobs and entice more young couples with small children to move to the Valley and raise a family, the current population would have trouble paying any more for access to the pool, or an increased tax to have it built. While a new pool would certainly be nice, and needed to some extent, is it even financially possible? And if it is, where to put the new pool? Mae shook her head. That was getting too far ahead of herself— the first step would be getting everyone decision maker into the same room.



Figures:
1.
Pool Schedule
 
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
6:00
Varsity Swim
Varsity Swim
Wolfville Triathlon
Varsity Swim
Varsity Swim
Varsity Swim
Lifesaving Society
6:30







7:00


 




7:30
Early Bird
Early Bird
Early Bird
Early Bird
Early Bird
Early Bird
Wolfville Tritons

8:00








8:30








9:00
Senior/ Parent-Tot
SMILE
Senior/ Parent -Tot
SMILE
Senior/ Parent -Tot
Group Lessons
Group Lessons
9:30







10:00

 

 



10:30
Public Swim
Public Swim
Public Swim
Public Swim
Public Swim
SMILE

11:00







11:30





Group Lessons

12:00
Lane Swim (Adult Only)
Lane Swim (Adult Only)
Lane Swim (Adult Only)
Lane Swim (Adult Only)
Lane Swim (Adult Only)


12:30







13:00
Public Swim
Public Swim
Public Swim
Public Swim
Public Swim
Private Lessons
Private Lessons
13:30







14:00
 
 
 
 
 
Public Swim
Public Swim
14:30






Aquafitness
15:00
Varsity Swim

Varsity Swim

Varsity Swim


15:30





 
Special Olympics
16:00

Wolfville Tritons

Wolfville Tritons

Red Cross Swim

16:30






 
17:00
Wolfville Tritons

Wolfville Tritons

Wolfville Tritons
 

17:30







18:00

Varsity Swim

Varsity Swim



18:30







19:00
Public Swim

Public Swim

 


19:30







20:00

Public Swim

Public Swim



20:30
 

 




2
Annapolis Valley Demographics
Population Age Demographics in the Annapolis Valley
Population of Annapolis Valley: 123,649
Age Segment
Percentage
Number
Under 20
22.5
27821
20-34
15.1
18671
35-54
29.8
36847
55-64
15.1
18671
65+
17.5
21639

3
(1)
4
Revelstoke Aquatic Center Wages
Acadia Aquatic Center Wages
Length of Employment
Hourly Wage ($)
Length of Employment
Hourly Wage ($)
Beginning
18.75
Beginning
10.71
3 months
20.25
3 months
10.71
6 months
21.5
6 months
10.71
1 year
22.25
1 year
10.81
2 years
23.5
2 years
10.80*
4 years
25.5
4 years
10.81*
For each following year the wage rises by an increment of $0.50
For each year beyond the first, all guards are paid the same. Increase between $0.03-$0.10

References
1. Demographics. In (2011). Nova Scotia Community Counts. Retrieved from
http://www.novascotia.ca/finance/communitycounts/profiles/community/default.a
sp?gnew=&table=&acctype=0&acctype2=&chartid=&mapid=&dcol=&sub=&gs
el=3&ptype=geo&tid=&gview=6&glevel=ecr&gnum=cnt1205&gnum2=ecr23
2. Annapolis valley, nova scotia, canada. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.city-
data.com/canada/Annapolis-Valley.html
3. Wolfville - town, nova scotia, canada. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.city-
data.com/canada/Wolfville-Town.html
4. Labour. In (2011). Nova Scotia Community Counts. Retrieved from
http://www.novascotia.ca/finance/communitycounts/profiles/community/default.a
sp?gnew=&table=&acctype=0&acctype2=&chartid=&mapid=&dcol=&sub=&gs
el=3&ptype=geo&tid=&gview=6&glevel=ecr&gnum=cnt1205&gnum2=ecr23
5. Riley, Johnathan. "Swim Meet Brings in $242k." - Community. N.p., 11 Dec. 2007. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
6. Webster, Tim, Dr, Kevin McGuigan, and Candace MacDonald. "Lidar Processing and Flood Risk Mapping for Coastal Areas in the District of Lunenburg, Town and District of Yarmouth, Amherst, Count Cumberland, Wolfville and Windsor." Nova Scotia Community College, 11 Oct. 2011. Web.