City of Victoria residents will get to decide the path forward on the Crystal Pool project in a referendum.
The vote will happen in the first quarter of 2025 and will ask the public whether money should be borrowed to build a new pool and recreation centre.
There will also be two options on which to vote: building overtop of the existing site, or building next to it while the existing Crystal Pool stays open. However, staff say it's unclear if the aging and fragile rec facility would actually be able to keep operating during construction.
The different options come with different price tags.
The first option where a new Crystal Pool goes over top of the existing site, called “Central Park North,” is what staff recommend. It could cost $209.2 million overall. But, the city can use money from reserves to bring the borrowing cost down to $162.9 million.
The second option is building it next to the existing facility, called "Central Park South," is more expensive at $215.9 million overall and $168.9 million for the borrowing cost, after the same reserve money is applied.
But those options would only happen if the public votes yes to the first part of the referendum - on whether this should happen at all.
"The public deserve to weigh in on this. It's a big capital cost. An average householder would be paying $256 a year for the next 20-years to pay this off," Councilor Chris Coleman told C-FAX 1070's Al Ferraby.
Council voted unanimously on Thursday to send the issue to a referendum.