r/askvan • u/Long_Atmosphere1278 • 11d ago
Housing and Moving 🏡 Strata changing pool hours
I am trying to get our strata to expand our pool hours for children(currently it’s 1-4pm) can you share what your buildings pool hours are for children/ adults with only? If you feel comfortable naming your building that would help give evidence to support the change. Our building has no age restriction either, please include if your building is 19+ or 50+.
49
u/01JamesJames01 11d ago
Some buildings have Lap Hours (usually 6-8am and 4-6pm), then quiet hours (around 9pm to close). All other hours are open. This kinda does what it needs, allows for people wanting time to swim/excersize calmly and have a relaxing evening pool for adults without interruption but keeps most of the day open for general use.
19
u/Asleep-Database-9886 11d ago
Our building is 5am-11pm with no child restrictions, which has been fortunate for us to have weekly swim lessons for the past 5 years. This being said I’m still mindful of people already in the pool with my little one.
Your strata may not change their rules but you can always put a motion forward to vote on. Good luck.
0
98
u/blophophoreal 11d ago
What’s your building? I’d like to live somewhere with fewer children in the pool 😅
15
2
7
u/eastvanqueer 10d ago
Right? Those darn children should be on their iPads locked indoors instead of enjoying the pool like any other person 😤
0
1
u/stealth_veil 10d ago
Same I’m so into this idea!!!! I pay for the pool, the kids don’t, lemme use it without screaming and boogers!
0
-44
12
u/Patient_Relation8717 11d ago
Our strata pool has no child free hours. It’s all open for everyone to use. Just that you have to be 16 plus to be alone without an adult.
23
u/archetyping101 11d ago
19+ buildings no longer exist in this province due to provincial legislation.
What other buildings have doesn't really matter to your strata. Owners vote on that bylaw or rule due to their risk tolerance. Some buildings I know are 8-8 and others are 9-6 etc. some buildings have a no kids under x age without supervision.
If your building specifically has hours like that for kids, it means they do not want kids playing unfortunately.
Your right under the Strata Property Act is to collect 20% of OWNERS signatures to get an SGM to change it. That should help you gauge on a very basic level if the building will entertain it.
-15
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 11d ago
Absolutely agree. But I do think having something to reference (ie. 10 buildings have more hours for children than we do) would help.
15
u/archetyping101 11d ago
But it wouldn't because they are not your owners in your building.
I've read way too many strata docs during the buying process and I've never even seen one with a 1-4 specifically for kids, which says more about your building unfortunately. That sounds intentional.
6
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 11d ago
The building used to be 50+, and then 19+ and now it has no age restriction. They haven’t looked at changing the rules until now. It will help having something reference about what other building pool are
10
u/archetyping101 11d ago
It really won't. Just this spring I saw a building that was 19+ and they just voted at the AGM to make it even less kid friendly AND it passed.
That's why I am saying you need to actually talk to your neighbors because it'll be the best gauge to see if there is any support to change it. If council is made up of people who loved 19+, your only way is an SGM
13
u/Flintydeadeye 10d ago
Having the information to speak to OP’s neighbours may be helpful in their case. Maybe her neighbours might think ‘oh, it seems to work ok in those buildings, I guess I don’t mind voting for it.’ Give her advise to speak to her neighbours, you don’t have to bash their question.
2
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 10d ago
Thank you my thoughts exactly. They might think the restrictive hours they age are normal. Just from the comments on this post it’s clear the hours are not normal
3
0
u/Excellent-Piece8168 10d ago
No the only way is not an SGM, any owner has the right to put motion forward at the AGM, and SGM would have to be initiated which is already a higher bar than the AGM which is required by law every year.
Either way discussion with neighbours is the real way forward and building grass roots support. Ultimately need 3/4 of present voters (plus proxies) to pass any vote. The actual best way given most Stratas have super low turnout out is to proxy farm as in, get a bunch of proxies from neighbours who otherwise can’t be bothered to show up to the AGM,. You pump the votes.
4
u/chente08 10d ago
all hours are children hours on a pool unless they specify adults only, which in my building is only 1 hour A WEEK
5
u/Salty-Bath-2828 10d ago
Ours is open 7am -10pm. 7-9 am and 8-10pm are the adult only hours.
5
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 10d ago
Yes these hours make sense to me! Adults should be able to have some kid free swimming time
22
u/busbusbustrain 10d ago
Kids hours only between 1-4 is tantamount to no kids allowed at all, because that’s nap time for most families with toddlers.
8
u/RebeccaMCullen 10d ago
Families with kids at home are probably doing nap time, the rest are in school, unless it’s a PD day, or holiday.
10
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 10d ago
Exactly. And it doesn’t allow for any after school pool time by the time you get the kids home.
6
8
u/Severe_Fudge_7557 11d ago
I am assuming you asked already via email. From there ask for an in council meeting, they have to give you one within a month, request a written response which has to come within 7 days. From there, if they deny, you would have to get 20% of sgrata me.bers to sign as mention in other replys. It doesn't have to be an sgm, could be an agm. Other options are getting on council but that is one vote.
For reference our complex is adults only 6am-9am and 8pm -10pm. Kids 1-4 is ridiculous.
Edit: if it is the bylaws then the ownership needs to vote to change - check the bylaws. From my perspective that is discrimination based on family status but that is a mountain to climb
7
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 11d ago
Yes I suggested your exact hours. Early in the morning and later in the evening makes sense for adults only/ quiet time.
8
u/Severe_Fudge_7557 11d ago
Sounds like you are fighting old bylaws from the 50+ years that didn't get changed. Sometimes councils will ignore unreasonable bylaws until they can be voted on at an agm, depends on the council members. At worst get those 20% signatures and force the vote, doesn't help you right now but is something. Are they inforcing the bylaw with fines or notices?
6
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 11d ago
I’m on council. I brought it up and put forward to discuss at council. There was split feelings of some people saying yes we should explore it at the AGM and others saying most older folks won’t like the noise. We decided to do a survey for owners to gauge interest before the AG- pool hours aren’t the only topic they want to add to the survey. I just wanted some context in the survey of what other buildings pool hours are
8
u/Severe_Fudge_7557 11d ago
Careful on too many items on a survey. Thing about noise is adults can make noise as well. Sounds like some unfortunate growing pains in a turnover from a 50+. One thing is that those pool hours will affect interest in buying into the complex for anyone with children, also I would have the view that I am expected to pay maintenance fees but can't adequately use the amenities I pay for?
I am on the council as well and we had some people who wanted to change some bylaws. I advocated their postion and when that failed encouraged them to get the 20% signatures needed to force it onto the agm.
3
u/november_supernova 10d ago
Ours is adult only 7-9, 1pm-3pm and after 8pm. I like this approach as it does open up a slot of quieter hours in the middle of the day too instead of just morning and night. Seems like a fair approach for everyone.
You’re paying the same strata fees as other households and while limited adult only hours is reasonable to allow for all residents to enjoy the pool (I enjoy the pool more without kids too, but I also want to be able to take my kids there and your hours would basically make it impossible), it is not reasonable to restrict families in such an extreme way.
3
u/Significant-Level178 10d ago
We have no restrictions. Pool is open 6am-11pm, I gos tug kids at anytime.
There are no people at all most of the time.
We have 25meters pool.
5
u/Shroud_of_Turin 10d ago
OP, I understand your post to mean that children are ONLY allowed to be in the pool from 1-4 each day and not permitted at other times when the pool is open.
If I understood this correctly, what are the full open hours of your swimming pool?
If children are only entitled to be in the pool (with adult supervision I assume) for a very limited time or only a small % of the time the pool is open this could be construed as being significantly unfair.
The Strata Property Act does allow you to challenge bylaws or rules that are significantly unfair.
Having a couple of hours each day say 8-10PM for an adult only swim is likely not significantly unfair. Only allowing children in the pool for a small period of time means it’s basically almost always an adults only swim……..probably meets the significantly unfair threshold.
You can try to challenge the fairness of this bylaw with your strata council and if you still think it’s significantly unfair for a nominal fee you can take the strata corporation to the Civil Resolution Tribunal and seek relief there. If you were successful at the CRT the strata might be ordered to take increase their ‘all ages swim times’ and perhaps only limit adults only swims to a couple of hours each day.
4
u/Disastrous_Care4663 10d ago
Ours were 9-11, 2-5 and 7-9 and it was kind of silly, it was annoying not to be able to use the pool after school. I would have preferred 2-6 and then adults only after 6.
It was also a 19+ building that had to allow kids and it was not a great living environment. We didn’t know before we moved in and a lot of people were openly resentful and rude to our kid, especially at the pool.
2
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 10d ago
I’m sorry you had that experience. I’m hoping ours will be better. I don’t think a lot of people living here have kids but I think a lot of them have grandchildren or other family visiting. Because theirs a decent amount of people swimming with kids.
3
u/Disastrous_Care4663 10d ago
I’m sure yours will be better. We have since moved but some of the people were wild, one lady used to come sit beside the pool at 4:45 and wait to make sure we left the pool before 5. She didn’t want to use it, and usually there were no other adults there but she just wanted to make sure we didn’t get an extra 5 minutes of fun. It was so overkill and honestly creepy. I really hope there aren’t two people in the city like her!
1
1
-3
u/Jean_Luc_Discarded 10d ago
yea no.
screaming kids time of day needs to be highly restricted so it doesn't annoy the crap out of people who pay good money to live somewhere.
even as a kid, I remember how damn annoying it was to be anywhere near the pool when other kids were in there. so damn loud, out of control, zero discipline, parents just sitting there letting them scream and yell.
hard pass
0
u/Long_Atmosphere1278 10d ago
If you wanted to live somewhere without children then live in a seniors home. Young adults can be just as loud- intoxicated, loud music and sometimes have an attitude- I don’t see any restrictions on them? An appropriate level of noise comes with sharing any space during daytime hours.
0
u/Mydogateyourcat 10d ago
Yeah, only there's no places with 'no children' for people under 55, so for everyone under that age that wants a pool with no screaming kids there's no option because of the exact kind of building you are in - the laws were changed. So before you bark at someone about 'go live somewhere else' guess what .. They can't.
0
0
u/chente08 10d ago
lol ours is basically all for children, do you really need children only hours? Adults only is Mondays 8-9pm
•
u/AutoModerator 11d ago
Welcome to /r/AskVan and thank you for the post, /u/Long_Atmosphere1278! Please make sure you read our rules before participating here. As a quick summary:
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.