The Long Beach City Council has unanimously approved a total rebuild of the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool to the tune of $62 million, with one major upgrade: a full-scale, competitive diving setup that will include platforms up to 10-meters.

The project is budgeted at $62 million, the high end of the first official estimated range, with $4 millions to build a temporary facility during construction similar to the one that Long Beach built during the 2000 Olympic Trials.

Several voting members of the City Council took an official stand that this full diving equipment would need to be included for any package to be approved for reconstruction.

“This is a great day for Long Beach,” counsilman Gary DeLong told Gazettes.com after the meeting. “We are here tonight to approve creation of a world class aquatic facility, and I’m confident that we will take that next step. I think the staff has made a great start here, but there are some improvements I think we can add. That will absolutely include a diving well indoors.”

Long Beach, when constructed in the 1960′s, was built specifically to accommodate swimming. This meant that when big meets like the Pac 12 Championships were hosted there, diving would have to be held off-site (often going up to Federal Way, Washington).

Artist’s renderings of the proposed facility has a uniquely-shaped pool that would allow for one course to be swum in one direction and a “T” at one end that is 30-meters in length, presumably to accommodate a 30-meter water polo course.

The increased budget assuages some concerns that the pool would not be cost effective unless it was built to elite competitive standards, rather than strictly as a community-serving lap pool. There were also concerns about the lack of specific design plans for the building and the facility in the original designs.

To address at least some of these concerns, the pool will be a minimum of 8 feet deep throughout, which will make the pool useful for big swim meets like college conference championships or perhaps Grand Prix meets, as well as water polo,synchronized swimming, and diving.

Story reported by SwimSwam.com