An interim facility will be located at the former YMCA on Broughton Street, with priority for swim lessons and clubs
Illustration by Sabina Mendoza.
On Sept. 25, Crystal Pool closed for the construction of a new Crystal Pool facility, currently slated to open in approximately five years.
Crystal Pool has been a part of Victoria for 55 years, and discussions of rebuilding it have been ongoing for 20 years, according to Victoria City Councillor Matt Dell. Dell worked on a municipal campaign aimed at rebuilding the pool in 2014, and worked at the pool in 2003.
Dell said that even 23 years ago, it was in need of repair or a rebuild. In 2018, Victoria City Council attempted to rebuild the pool, but ultimately couldn’t agree on a location for the new facility.
“The problem with pools is they only last about 50 years,” Dell said. “And then the underground piping … kind of starts to fall apart, the brickwork starts to fall apart, the building needs to be maintained, the roof, all the heating and all that.”
In 2025, Crystal Pool had a maintenance shutdown that was prolonged an additional three months due to unexpected pipe failure, according to Derrick Newman, the city’s director of parks and recreation. Due to the age of the piping, replacement parts were hard to acquire. “Because we weren’t able to find parts of this vintage, 55-year-old [parts], we had to retrofit,” Newman said.
Despite the high cost and short longevity of pools, Dell said that “pools and community centers are the most essential type of public infrastructure. They give people a place to go to be healthy, to build community, to learn how to swim.”
Further, Dell believes pools teach kids essential life skills.“ After COVID, children’s drowning deaths increased because kids weren’t taking swimming lessons during the pandemic,” he said. “[Pools] actually save lives.”
In February 2025, the City of Victoria held a public referendum, letting residents vote on the future of Crystal Pool. The public voted to rebuild the pool at its original location, keeping the pool, neighbouring park, playground, and basketball and tennis courts intact and close by.
The courts and playground are planned to be kept open during construction of the new Crystal Pool facility. The public also voted to keep the pool’s length at 50 meters.
An interim pool will be opened during Crystal Pool’s construction, and is expected to open in early 2027 after renovations. It will be located at the former YMCA facility at 851 Broughton Street.
After the YMCA relocated to the Bay Centre, they sold the original property to Concert Properties. According to Newman, “the city came up with a creative solution with Concert Properties to lease the 851 Broughton facility to provide interim aquatic and recreation systems while the new facility is under construction.”
However, according to Newman, the YMCA wasn’t planning to maintain the original facility after changing locations, and since the YMCA facility is a similar age to Crystal Pool, the location also needs renovations and repairs in order to bring it up to service for the next five years.
Newman told the Martlet that Crystal Pool staff will continue to work at the interim pool once it opens, and that a program will be developed to prioritize swim lessons and swim clubs.
Newman said the new Crystal Pool facility will have improved accessibility (as the current facility has a lot of stairs), more family change rooms and gender inclusive areas, and sustainability upgrades including high-efficiency electric power instead of gas.
Dell also said there will be an expanded weight room outside of the pool area,
While the pool will reopen, its temporary closure may be emotional for some in the community.
“I think it comes with some mixed feelings. It’s an exciting point in the project, but certainly we recognize that the facility has been a cornerstone of the community for over 50 years, and a lot of people have a lot of strong connections and memories with the facility,” Newman said.
He emphasized that the city wants to do what it can to reduce impacts to the community, and do “everything in our power to open that interim facility as quickly as possible.”
