Pool stays open despite need for improvements

By DELANIA TRIGG, City Editor Gainesville Daily Register

Gainesville — The Leonard Park swimming pool is scheduled to open next year, but capital improvements at the facility — around $70,000 worth — are not in next year’s budget, City Manager Barry Sullivan said Thursday.

Although the city takes in about $27,500 each season from fees and concessions, the pool is far from a municipal money-maker.

Parks and Recreation Supervisor Patrick McCage said regular maintenance costs for the pool are about $65,000 per year.

These expenses include salaries for pool staff, chemicals and other costs associated with the facility.

“We lose (money) to keep the pool operating,” Sullivan admitted, “but it’s a quality of life issue.”

During the two and half months the pool is open each summer, attendance averages 140 guests per day.

City Council members talked of not opening the pool for the 2010 summer season at the March 16 city council meeting.

The council discussed the price of repairs to the pool and eventually decided to “roll the dice” and open the pool for another season without the repairs.

Several council members spoke in favor of opening the pool including then-councilmember Charles Draper and councilmembers Carolyn Hendricks and Beverly Snuggs.

Snuggs said she believes the pool fills a recreational niche in the city.

“I think the pool is a very necessary thing,” she said, adding that the facility serves residents from young children to older adults who use the pool for recreation and exercise.

The Leonard Park swimming pool has a long history in Gainesville.

The 525,000-gallon pool opened in the late 1940s and has served as a recreational spot for countless residents.

However, the pool is also in need of some repairs, McCage admits.

These improvements include replacing an aging piping system and replacing the pump/motor and flooring in the basement pump room.

McCage said the pool’s circulation motor is 18 years old — long past its life expectancy. He said even the sand in the system has been around a long time and should be replaced.

Eventually, the parks and recreation department would like to beef up the facility. McCage said a wish list of changes at the pool would include adding “active water features and modern locker rooms.”

“Renovations are expensive and what we are coming to grips with (is that) it will be years down the line,” he said last week in response to questions about the future of the pool.

The Leonard Park pool holds memories for many residents.

Joe Leonard, Jr. — a member of the family for whom the park is named — said he recalls when the swimming pool was new.

The pool was quite a bit different back then.

“When it was first built, it had a sandy bottom,” he said

In those days, there was also a wooden diving platform with a spring board and a high dive up top, he said.

Leonard said he didn’t mind using the spring board which was close to the water.

“But if you climbed to that high dive and looked down at the water, you had some qualms and apprehension,” he said.

Not everyone who climbed the platform had the courage to dive.

“About half the people just jumped off feet first,” he recalled.

The pool is currently open Monday through Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Individual and family passes are $40 and $75 and are good for the whole summer. Daily admission is $2 per person. The facility is also open from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Fridays for Family Swim Night.

In addition, the pool is the site of morning water aerobics classes from 9 to 11 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and evening water aerobics classes Monday through Wednesday.

Thousands of kids and adults have learned to swim at the Leonard Park Pool over the years.

McCage — an outspoken advocate for swimming lessons — said swimming is an important skill.

“(Learning to swim) can add a lot to family leisure time in the water,” McCage said. “It’s important that no one misses out on an afternoon with the kids because they are uncomfortable in the water.”

The Leonard Park Swimming Pool is located at 1000 W. California St. For more information about the pool call the office of Gainesville Parks and Recreation at 668-4534.

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