The president of Laurentian University said she hopes the conversation arising from the City of Greater Sudbury’s Aquatic Services and Facility Review “will shake loose some partners” to help get LU’s long-closed Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool reopened.
Sudbury.com has confirmed that the report is currently scheduled to be presented at the Oct. 8 meeting of city council. Those connected with Laurentian’s pool say they will be watching with interest when the report is released.
“Our facility is considered in scope of that review, even though it's not a municipal facility,” said Laurentian president Lynn Wells, speaking at the Sept. 17 meeting of LU’s senate.
“We're hoping that the conversation that arises from that review will shake loose some partners and some supporters who will help us get that facility open.”
While the city report is looking at the condition of the City of Greater Sudbury’s aging stock of pools, it is also taking into account Laurentian’s pool, the only Olympic-sized aquatic facility in the region, previously heavily used for area swim competitions.
Laurentian has said while it has been participating in the city’s aquatic services review, but didn’t want to create an expectation that the City of Greater Sudbury would help fund the Jeno Tihanyi pool, which has been closed since 2020.
With user groups pushing to get the pool reopened, Laurentian said it was in discussions with the City of Greater Sudbury as it looked to collaborate.
The Laurentian pool needs repair due to leaks. Sudbury.com received a copy of the repair options report for the pool in June through a freedom of information request, although cost estimates were redacted.
We asked Laurentian president Lynn Wells in a recent interview if she could tell us what repair option LU is leaning toward or provide any cost estimates.
She declined on both counts, saying the board would need to do “diligence around the various options,” and that in terms of costs “I don’t have all those numbers in my head. Suffice to say, they’re big.”
Laurentian, which exited almost two years of court-supervised insolvency restructuring in late 2022, has also said it’s also not in the financial position to fund the pool’s operating costs due to other financial obligations.
Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde, a member of Laurentian’s senate who’s also the LU swim club’s former vice-president, brought up the matter at this month’s meeting of the governing body, asking Wells if the university has “abandoned the pool.”
Wells said while Laurentian is not currently in a position to commit operating or capital dollars to the pool, citing in part the plan of arrangement and exit loan agreement tied to its 2021-2022 insolvency, LU is looking for partners to get the pool reopened.
Schulte-Hostedde also asked Wells what partners she is hoping will come on board to get the pool reopened.
“You mentioned partners, but you're not being specific,” Schulte-Hostedde said. “I assume you mean the city, so that's one partner, but you're using plural. So who else do you expect to help out with the pool?”
Well answered “I use the plural specifically because we do speak to anyone, including possible private donors, members of the community, who are keen to see the pool open. We need to look to members of the community to help us get the pool open again. But as well, private donors, and you know, as said, the city.”
She also said Laurentian had also looked into a provincial funding opportunity this summer for the repair of recreational facilities, but unfortunately, universities were not eligible to apply, “so that was a bit of a disappointment.”
Laurentian vice-president, finance and administration Sylvie Lafontaine said LU has “an offering as an Olympic pool that is unique to Northern Ontario.”
She said the city’s aquatic services review will see “how the Laurentian University pool fits in with the priority not only for the city, but for Northern Ontario.
Dean Henze, the head coach of the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club, which was one of the Jeno Tihanyi pool’s main users, told Sudbury.com he will definitely be tuning in to city council Oct. 8 to hear the outcome of the aquatic services report.
That’s not just because of the Laurentian pool, but also because the swim club is also currently using municipal pools (RG Dow and Nickel District) due to the ongoing closure of the Jeno Tihanyi facility.
“I'm curious as to what the link is between that report and the university,” said Henze. “That means that they've been talking at some level. So it could go from zero, being the city doesn’t want any part of it, to OK we're gonna just take it over and assume responsibility for it, which I cannot see.
“That would be the 10, right? I just don't see that happening. The logistics of the city running a facility that's embedded in an entire complex on campus would be very challenging. But you know what, stranger things have happened.”
Henze said he assumes that Laurentian is going to “sit on the pool for at least another year, maybe longer.”
“I think it's safe to say we tried pretty hard over the last year-and-a-half to get things moving on that,” he said. “They did their due diligence of finding out what the problems are. Now, no one's seemingly looking into how to make it work.
“But if their hands are tied, who am I to argue. I don't know the upper workings, the board level of the university, right? And I think there's a lot of buildings on that campus that are in the same state of repair.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
