#50Days50Ways - #47 - Upgrading the Mudgeeraba Aquatic Centre

The Mudgeeraba Aquatic Centre was built in 1968 and is the oldest in our city.

For over ten years now we’ve been scheduling an upgrade to enable it to continue serving the city as a smaller pool, focussed on seniors, learn to swim, smaller school programs, and the Mudgeeraba Special School community next door. There is now 124,000 visits annually and over the past 5 years visitation has grown by 25%. There is already $7.8m set aside in adopted budgets. It is expected that additional budget will be resolved in the coming budget cycle to complete the project.

I met the Mayor adjacent the pool a few months back to brief him on the project. Works are currently planned, after final designs and budget adoption, for 25/26 and 26/27 financial years. While Mudgeeraba is a minor pool in the city, it serves an important need amongst Gold Coasters who prefer a smaller pool that can include quieter times and less people.

The new pool complex will be widened and moved into the park area, and the park will be moved to the area where the old pool was. It is hoped that the pool will remain open while construction occurs, to support local business.

Previously, in 2017, Council had allocated over $500,000 for work on the pool complex, including $50,000 in Division 9 Local Area Works, at Special Budget Committee to replace the roof, upgrade the amenities, and enhance the kiosk at the local pool, after patronage increased from about 20,000 per year to over 60,000 over past years. The Learn To Swim program pool was a big part of a previous project and even Sam Hatch from Mudgeerabarbarians got involved with the media. He’s so cool.

The Mudgeeraba pool is an important place where people gather and enjoy a swim. We’re committed to seeing it flourish and continue to be improved over coming years!

#Vote1Tozer #division9GC #50day50ways