MOUNT FOREST – Though it’s not clear when the pool will be built, the Mount Forest outdoor swimming pool already has a new name.
With a commitment to donate $500,000 toward the pool project, local trucking company T.D. Smith Transport secured naming rights to the facility for the next 20 years.
“We are thrilled to contribute to this project,” company president Mike Smith said in a news release. “The children of Mount Forest deserve a dedicated space where they can learn to swim, stay cool during the hot summer months, gather safely with their friends, creating lasting memories while creating employment for our youth as well. The new pool will provide them with exactly that.”
The donation agreement wasn’t shared publicly, but a report included in the Feb. 24 Wellington North council meeting agenda said the “first payment” had been received by the township in 2024, and the remaining funds are to be received in 2025 and 2026.
“The 20-year agreement will commence once the facility opens,” the report said.
It's still not clear when that will be.
The town’s former pool, which was located on Parkside Drive, never opened for its 2022 season after failing inspections.
The township has been working on fundraising for a new facility, which it plans to construct on Princess Street next to the Mount Forest and District Sports Complex.
A bylaw to rezone just under an acre of land at 850 Princess St. from future development to open space to facilitate construction of an outdoor pool was approved at the Feb. 24 council meeting following a public meeting the same evening. No members of the public spoke on the subject, and planning staff raised no concerns.
Council also unanimously approved the future name of the pool as the T.D. Smith Aquatic Centre.
“I’m beyond words,” councillor Sherry Burke, chair of the Mount Forest pool ad-hoc advisory committee, told fellow councillors when the item came up for discussion at the meeting.
“I don’t really know how to express my gratitude to the T.D. Smith corporation and the Smith family,” said Burke.
She went on to say the donation would help to “really kickstart our fundraising efforts and to keep the momentum going.”
Mayor Andy Lennox echoed her gratitude.
“I, too, think we should be sending a big thank you to T.D. Smith and their team for the support,” he said, going on to thank the fundraising committee for its efforts.
Previous estimates put the cost of the pool at $5.3 million, but costs are expected to rise the longer it takes for construction to begin.
Besides the $500,000 donation from T.D. Smith, the committee tasked with fundraising for the project has also secured a $2,500 donation from the Mount Forest Legion branch and a $250,000 pledge from the Mount Forest Lions Club.
Once 80 per cent of the committee’s $2.5-million fundraising goal has been reached, a tender package will be created for the project, and construction cost estimates will be updated, the staff report said.
Construction won’t begin until 100% of the fundraising target has been met and council approves the final financial contribution for a future capital budget.
T.D. Smith is considered a “diamond” level donor under the fundraising committee’s donor-recognition program.
At a $300,000 donation threshold, a “platinum” donor would get its name on the bath house lobby. For $100,000, one can name one of the three proposed swim lanes.