Coquitlam looks to add food and drinks to menu at new Spani Pool

It’s time to make some concessions.

Coquitlam is on the lookout for a contractor who will be ready to serve up snacks and drinks in Mundy Park by the time the new Spani Pool opens in 2024.

Depending on the pitches that roll in, the city could pick one contractor to sell food at Spani Pool and another vendor to supply snacks at the Mundy Park field house, located by the bathrooms. The other option would be to have one contractor take over both locations, according to Coquitlam’s recently issued request for proposals.

Unless an exception is granted, the selected contractor would be expected to have the Spani eatery operating whenever the pool is open. The concession is 290 square feet.

The Mundy Park field house concession is expected to be open from Canada Day to Labour Day for a minimum of eight hours a day, seven days a week. The contractor could operate year-round but has the option to cut hours during shoulder reasons, according to the RFP.

The filed house concession could start operating in early 2024.

The Spani Pool contractor would have to maintain the city-supplied tables and chairs under a non-exclusive licence with Coquitlam.

A final contract is set to be negotiated between the city and vendor before the contract is awarded.

Contractors have until Oct. 4 to apply.

New pool

Coquitlam is in the process of a $32-million overhaul of the 52-year-old Mundy Park pool.

The design includes a leisure pool with a shallow entry, a lazy river, and a warming pool intended to provide “therapeutic opportunities” for residents. The renovated lap pool will stay the same size with eight swim lanes and a dive tank.

Currently, Spani Pool’s natural gas boilers produce the equivalent of 120 tonnes of carbon dioxide, making Spani Pool the Coquitlam’s third largest source of emissions among civic facilities. (With their year-round schedules, both the Poirier Sports centre and the City Centre Aquatic Complex produce more greenhouse gas emissions.)

However, the renovation is expected to result in a substantially more environmentally friendly pool.

By switching to a hybrid heat pump/natural gas boiler system as well as employing other measures including overnight pool covers, GHGs are projected to fall by approximately 80 percent. The switch is also slated to save the city about $34,000 per year, according to the staff report.

Running the new pool is slated to cost the city $900,000 per year, the equivalent of an approximately 0.54 percent tax increase.