Save Phillip Pool supporters want candidates in the upcoming Assembly election to speak up and save the pool from being replaced by more apartments in Woden.
Wearing Save Phillip Pool T-shirts, supporters of the swimming pool and ice rink complex mingled at a "community event" on Saturday held by Geocon to celebrate the completion of its 856-apartment complex WOVA.
Pool supporter Sarah Ransom said they wanted to "be visible" at the event.
They also tried - unsuccessfully - to get answers from Geocon about the future of the Phillip pool site, which is across the road from WOVA.
Geocon bought the lease to the site in late 2022 and says it will open next season but made no promises beyond that.
Changes to planning laws mean that Geocon only has to provide a 25-metre indoor pool at the site as part of a new apartment complex.
Ms Ransom said an outdoor 50-metre pool was something that should not be given up lightly and if Geocon could not be stopped building another tower on the Phillip site, a 50-metre pool should be built elsewhere in Woden.
An outdoor pool of that length meant it was suitable for training but also provided open green space for people to swim out in the elements, not in a hot, over-chlorinated indoor pool.
"A 25-metre pool run by Geocon at the bottom of an apartment tower is not going to meet our needs," she said.
Ms Ransom said other candidates in the October 19 election should speak up for the pool and more community facilities in Woden, as Independent candidate for Murrumbidgee Fiona Carrick was doing.
"We want the candidates to pick it up as an issue," she said.
Another Phillip pool supporter, Nic Jones, said the pool was a valuable community resource.
"Coming from London where there are no 50-metre pools, I think we're tossing out the family silver and we'll come to regret it further down the track," he said.
Shayne Robey, who has swum regularly at the Phillip pool since he was a teenager, said Geocon should never have been sold the pool lease being able to change the purpose clause.
He also called for candidates and current MLAs to do more to save the pool.
"Politicians have attended different meetings and have all agreed it's bad [the pool could go] but there hasn't been much action," he said.
Mr Robey said a 25-metre pool wouldn't be long enough for people to train effectively and the fact the Phillip pool was now an oasis of green amongst towers of apartments should not be discounted.
"It's a place to relax, to sit outside and have a picnic and to jump in the water on a hot day," he said.
Ms Carrick, who also attended Saturday's Geocon event, said the pool's supporters appreciated "people need homes" but it should be done "in a balanced way that retains our recreation facilities".
"We have already lost our pitch n putt, bowling greens, tennis courts, YMCA and our indoor sports stadium," she said.
"We want to keep the 50m Phillip Pool and the ice rink, they bring people together to socialise and keep fit, this is good for our physical and mental health.
"Having community facilities in the town centre also attracts people to the area to support a growing street culture and small business.
"While WOVA will provide community facilities for its residents, we call on the ACT government to provide community facilities for the public."
