City of Marion releases seaside pool concept designs

The City of Marion has released concept designs for an unfunded proposal for a seaside pool at Hallett Cove – for both a 50m option and a 25m option – at a cost of $10.3 million and $9 million respectively.

Council will also ask the community if they would prefer no pool at the cove, with ongoing management of the existing reserve embankment to address identified climate change impacts from coastal erosion.

Building a seaside pool at the popular beach as part of coastal erosion management was canvassed by the community through a petition several years ago.

Since then, Council has partnered with the State Government to commission a feasibility study and then, in the past year, to do some community consultation and concept designs.

The final concept designs were presented to Councillors at last night’s General Council Meeting and will go out for public consultation in early July for four weeks.

“A report on that consultation will come back to Council in September and we’ll decide what steps - if any - we take then,” Mayor of Marion Kris Hanna said.

“It’s important to note that this is an unfunded project and just a concept at this stage.

“It is not in the City of Marion’s budget or our 4-Year Business Plan.

“A project like this would need funding from State and/or Federal Governments to go ahead.

“Council put in another $28,000 on top of the $70,000 originally budgeted for the concepts so we could get some designs and costings for the 25m option as well.

“We also want the community to consider whether building no pool is their preferred option, with just management of the reserve embankment in response to coastal erosion.”

A report on the concept designs states that a 50m pool would cost about $10.3 million to build, based on current prices with contingencies, and more than $200,000 a year to maintain and operate.

Both pool designs also include a 20m x 20m children’s wading pool.

“There’s a lot of detail in these concept designs, including traffic engineering and parking,” Mayor Hanna said.

“I encourage the community to log onto our Making Marion website, take a look at the designs and tell us what you think during the public consultation process.”

Image: Artist impression of proposed 50m seaside pool at Hallett Cove. Nicole Larkin Design Architect.

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