During Friday afternoon’s session of the Wake Forest Town Board summer retreat, the five commissioners and mayor could not decide, as Commissioner Margaret Stinnett phrased it, whether they want to be in the pool business. They chose to wait for the results of a survey Communications Director Bill Crabtree that went online Tuesday.
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From now through Friday, Sept. 16, Wake Forest residents are urged to visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/swimming-pool-community-interest-survey.aspx and share their opinions on Holding Park Pool, their level of interest in a community swimming pool, and other pool-related issues. The four-question survey takes about three minutes to complete.
“We want to make an informed decision about how best to move forward, so we want to hear from our residents” said Mayor Vivian Jones. “Now’s the perfect time for anyone with an interest in our community to share their thoughts and opinions.”
The Wake Forest Board of Commissioners will review and discuss the survey results during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
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The problem the commissioners and mayor face is that Holding Park Pool needs to be rebuilt, the consultant, Senior Inspector David Harris with Geo-Technologies, reported. He offered three possible scenarios:
*Rebuild the walls inside the existing pool at a cost of $250,000 to $260,000
*Build a new pool inside the existing pool at a cost of $600,000 to $650,000
*Build a new pool at a cost of $950,000 to $1 million
Or, Harris said, they could choose from three other options:
*Repair and reduce the size of the pool and add a sprayground water park
*Close the pool and build a sprayground water park
*Close the pool and build an indoor pool at Joyner Park (or another location) at a cost of $4.3 to $5.9 million. A sprayground water park to replace the Holding Park Pool was estimated at $200,000 to $500,000.
Reaction was mixed. Town Manager Kip Padgett immediately said, “No way we can afford that,” the indoor pool. Commissioner Brian Pate said he saw no logic in rebuilding the Holding pool and opted for an indoor pool that could be open year-round and generate income with a sprayground at the Holding site. Mayor Vivian Jones wanted to know how many people used the Holding pool for open swimming as opposed to swim lessons and team practices. Commissioner Anne Reeve noted that Joyner Park is not easily accessible for a lot of people. Commissioner Jim Thompson said they could spend $600,000 rebuilding the Holding pool and then find they had to go in, tear some or all out and replace the piping.
“Every subdivision that’s built has a pool,” Stinnett said. “If there are only 50 people who care if we have a pool . . . they can go to a friend’s, go to the Y, go to Granite Falls.”
After some talk about the costs of different items and the number of people using the Holding pool, Jones said, “I think Margaret’s right. Are we going to be in the pool business or not?”
Pate made some calculations about the pool use and said, “$48 per trip to the pool. That gives me heartburn.”
“If we close the pool and build a sprayground, we can open it next summer,” Jones said.
“I don’t see being in the pool business if we don’t have an indoor pool,” Pate said.
When Jones asked for a vote on the pool, no one spoke up at first. Then Reeve said a pool is an asset to the community and also said, “Let’s throw concrete in it and build a sprayground.”
“An indoor pool in the future may be the best [solution],” Jones said. She suggested rebuilding Holding pool “and have it for three or four years and build an indoor pool. I think it would be great. I hate for us to go without a pool.”
After that Commissioner Greg Harrington, who had earlier said he would like the town to stay in the pool business, suggested the survey. The results will be presented to the board at their September meeting.
Pate talked about how swimming meets bring large numbers of people to an indoor pool and that a pool usable 12 months of the year would result in much more usage.
Planning Director Chip Russell spoke about the value of swimming lessons, and Jones noted that North Carolina has a high incidence of youngsters and adults drowning because they cannot swim. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Director Ruben Wall noted that the town’s long-range plan calls for a large indoor pool.
One Response
They are already in the pool business.