The Vancouver Aquarium that welcomes the world in 2010 could look appreciably different from the aquarium that greets the city today, says president John Nightingale.

It would be 27-per-cent bigger and it would include three major exhibits instead of two.

But that depends on 1) whether approval for the proposed changes are granted by the Vancouver park board, and 2) whether the estimated $60 million to $70 million it will cost to effect the changes can be raised.

The first hurdle was removed Monday night when the NPA-dominated park board voted 4-2 to rescind a 1995 board decision demanding that any proposed aquarium expansion must be put to a referendum first. (The 1995 board was also dominated by the Non-Partisan Association.)

On Monday night, the board also rescinded an accompanying resolution made by the previous Coalition of Progressive Electors-dominated board that a referendum on keeping whales and dolphins in captivity be held in 2008.

Nightingale insists that even without the referendum, the public will be consulted before any expansion takes place, but that it will take the form of a formal public-consultation process organized by the aquarium and the park board.

Critics say the consultation, which will be financed primarily by the aquarium, will be arranged to ensure that approval is granted, and that regardless of what Nightingale says, the expansion is a fait accompli.

"I think the park board represents the aquarium's interests over the people who elected them and pay their salaries," said Kelly Bunting, a spokeswoman for the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, an organization that opposes keeping whales and dolphins for public entertainment.

"The board should represent the public, but it's clear the aquarium calls the shots."

Nightingale said even though board chairwoman Heather Holden is an aquarium employee (Holden excused herself from Monday's vote), the aquarium has no influence with the board. He insisted there is no guarantee the aquarium's expansion plans will be approved. But if they are, he said they will include:

- Rebuilding the current Wild Coast pool for a new exhibit of Steller sea lions, sea otters and sea birds.

- Building a new pool for the current Wild Coast exhibit on land that was once occupied by the Stanley Park Zoo.

- Enlarging the Arctic Canada Exhibit and pool where the four beluga whales are kept.

Currently, the aquarium has four dolphins on show, but hopes to add at least three more.

Nightingale also plans to move the salmon run exhibit into the Wild Coast pool and to introduce beavers into that show as well.

He said he hopes construction can begin on the expansion next spring in time for a summer 2009 completion.

NPA board member Martin Zlotnik, who introduced the motion to rescind the referendum, also denied the expansion is a done deal.

"There's nothing certain here," Zlotnik said. "The only certain thing is that if they bring forward an expansion request, they will have an opportunity to present it to the public."

Nightingale said he hopes to have a public proposal ready within the next few months.
But COPE commissioner Spencer Herbert, who voted against rescinding the referendum, said he believes democracy took a hit Monday night when the board denied the public its right to vote on a bigger aquarium.

"For me, it was never about yes to the expansion or no to the expansion," Herbert said. "It's too early to get into that. For me, it's about Vancouverites having the right to vote on the expansion of the aquarium.

"[The referendum] was a way of making sure everyone was involved. It was a way we could deal with it in a way that would keep the public trust."

But Nightingale said the aquarium couldn't wait for a referendum -- the next election isn't scheduled until 2008 -- because it hopes to raise money for the project by tying it to the 2010 Olympics.

He said he hopes the federal, provincial and municipal governments will provide some of the necessary funding, and that the rest will come from the public.

However, he couldn't say how he expects those contributions to be broken down.

Zlotnik said a referendum isn't necessary because it's the responsibility of commissioners to make decisions, not refer them to the public.

"It's the right process," he said. "I don't understand why people think you elect people to sit around and say, 'We can't make a decision, so let's send it to a referendum.' "

Herbert said the matter was first brought to the board's attention two weeks ago at a committee meeting, so there was hardly any time for anyone to consider it carefully.

He also said it "felt" to him as if the aquarium was putting pressure on the board, but added: "I hope they'll prove me wrong."

Nightingale said the expansion would occur on land now occupied by a statue of a killer whale outside the aquarium entrance (it would be moved, he said), as well as the current location of washrooms and a hamburger stand immediately east of the aquarium entrance.

It would represent about half an acre of land.

Jim Harvey, former chairman of the Friends of Stanley Park organization, said Monday's decision represents another significant cut into the park.

"This is what Vancouver is all about," he said. "It's either a city that's surrounded by nature or it's a modern city that's going sky-high with concrete. That's what the aquarium is. It's a concrete menagerie of pools. It's so bothersome to me."

Zlotnik said losing half an acre of the park didn't concern him. "Do you know how many acres there are in Stanley Park? [1,000] What you're suggesting is that we don't have any other things in Stanley Park."

nread@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2006