Save Our Poolz has consistently advocated for either repairing the pools we have now, or for comparable neighborhood sized pool replacements.

City Manager O'Brien's announcement comes at a time when there is growing consensus that the larger pools are the wrong way for Worcester to go. Most recently, mayoral candidate Joe O'Brien has taken a strong position in favor of retaining Worcester's 9 municipal pools.

The City Manager's decision to ignore public input, the public decision making process and the decision making authority of the City Council's Youth, Parks and Recreation Committee is a slap in the face to democracy here in Worcester.

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September 1, 2009
TO THE WORCESTER CITY COUNCIL COUNCILORS:
I respectfully request City Council's review, deliberation and endorsement of a request to begin the design of a public pool complex for Crompton Park using available capital funds, as received from Robert L. Moylan, Jr., Commissioner of Public Works & Parks and forwarded for the consideration of your Honorable Body.

Commissioner Moylan has recommended utilizing available capital funds, including the Fiscal Year 2010 Capital Budget authorization, for the design and construction of a swimming pool at Crompton Park that reflects the highly-successful State Shine pool archetype.

There has been a tremendous amount of research, discussion, outreach, and listening undertaken over the last two years regarding the future of our pools here in the City. There is complete consensus as to the real need for state-of-the-art pools within our neighborhoods. We can and must meet this need while also clearly recognizing and acknowledging the long-term financial commitments required to open, maintain and reinvest in these facilities annually. We must build new pools to meet the greatest need within our community, build them with the amenities all our citizens clearly wish for, build only what we can commit to open, maintain, and reinvest in over time, and build them new to standards that will last for their entire useful life.

It is for these reasons that I concur with Commissioner Moylan's core recommendation for the City to ultimately build, open and maintain three new pools total to compliment the State's new Shine Pool at Vernon Hill Park and the soon to be renovated Bennett Field State Pool on Main Street. This core recommendation factors the State's commitment to open their beaches at Regatta Point and Quinsigamond State Park. It also factors our commitment to continue to open, maintain and manage our City beaches at Shore Park, Indian Lake, Coes Pond and Bell Pond, as well as to pursue the continuation and the expansion of the Wheels to Water Program (integration of our private not for profit pools as part of the total aquatics experience). I must note, that going forward and as funding permits, we will and can consider other aspects like splash pads, spray parks or perhaps even smaller pools (if sustainable, non-tax levy funding sources can be identified for pool capital, pool maintenance and pool operations).
I respectfully request City Council's endorsement of this plan: With arid upon endorsement, we will immediately begin to push for the completion of our first of three new pools at Crompton Park by next summer

Respectfully submitted,

Michael V. O'Brien City Manager

CITY OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
Department of Public Works and Parks

To: Michael V. O'Brien, City Manager
From: Robert L. Moylan Jr., P.E., Commissioner of Public Works and Parks
Date: August 26, 2009
Re: Communication Relative to Pools

The fiscal 2010 Capital Budget includes $900,000 for-the design and construction of swimming pools. When combined with other capital funds for the same purpose, the city has a total of about $2:5 million. A definitive plan to address the long term aquatic needs in the city has not yet been adopted although I believe there is a consensus that the existing $2.5 million' in capital funds be put to use immediately to build a pool facility for use next summer.

The debate concerning the city's plans for pools and aquatic facilities going forward continues. Suggestions as to how the city addresses this issue have varied but all are steeped in passion and well-intentioned with the goal being that the final plan will provide aquatic opportunities.for all city residents: Debate has ranged from the style of pools to be built to the appropriateness of splash pads or spray parks to the extent of financial commitment the city can afford to make. Notwithstanding the continuing debate and the yet to be adopted aquatics plan for the future, the city has made it clear that it believes the core elementof any plan to address the aquatic needs is the construction of 3 additional pools of a design and type similar to the very successful Shine Pool model recently opened at Vernon Hill Park by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). A similar pool complex is out to bid by DCR now to replace the pool at Bennett Field. It is expected to be in operation for next'summer. With these two facilities in operation, City Council districts' 3 and 5 will have pool facilities.

The Shine Pool opened this July 1st and has been an overwhelming success. This.' single facility has attracted over 10,000 users during a season that has not been conducive to outdoor aquatics. This use is in direct contrast to the average of 2,500 patrons to each of the city's eight pools that were open in 2008. Equally impressive is that, according to the pool facilities manager, the Shine Pool attendance was made up of 70% families with ages ranging from infants to octogenarians and the able.and disabled alike. With this success in mind, the core plan to address the aquatic needs' of the city is to construct similar pools in each of the 3 city council districts that will not have a DCR pool (i.e., D1, D2, & D4). Given that both D1 and D2 have other aquatic opportunities available, it is recommended that this years funding be directed to D4 and preferably to Crompton Park which had the highest attendance of pool facilities in this district.

To support this recommendation of a Shine Pool model at Crompton Park for next year, I offer the following facts:
• Even with a September approval of this recommendation, it will be challenging to have a pool in operation by July 1, 2010. Any delay in making this decision assures that there will be no pool for 2010.
• Although it will be refuted by some, the city's pool consultant estimates the cost to completely renovate each of the city's 1970's style pools to range from $1.25 million to $1.4 million excluding bathhouse facilities. In contrast, the more appealing Shine Pool design, which Includes many additional amenities, is estimated to cost $1.7 million excluding bathhouse.
• Bathhouses, required at pools by statute, are expected to cost an additional $500,000.
• The city's pool consultant has designed and/or operates 37 public pool facilities in New England. They are very familiar with the bidding requirements of Massachusetts Chapter 30 B and Chapter 149 and Prevailing Wage aspects of public bids. Their insight of construction and operational costs of public pools is unassailable.
• DCR developed their design of the Shine Pool by seeking public comment on the desired elements of a public pool complex. They found the public was looking for certain attributes and incorporated them into the Shine Pool design. We should take advantage of the work done by DCR when forming our aquatics plan. The desired attributes are:
o Fully Code compliant
o Fully ADA compliant
o Family oriented
o Multi-generational appeal
o Various interactive play elements
o Environmentally friendly
o State-of-the-art mechanical and filtration systems

Recommendation
There is a predominance of technical advantages, operational benefit and public support that suggests the Shine Pool model is the type of pool that the city should adopt and that satisfies the aquatics challenge. However, the purpose of this memorandum is simply to obtain approval to begin design of a similar facility for Crompton Park using available capital funds so that it might be operational for July 2010. The debate on the number of additional pools to be built, the inclusion of spray facilities or splash pads in an aquatics plan and the timeline during which these facilities can be built will be presented in a subsequent report.

Sincerely,
Robert L. Moylan Jr., P.E. Commissioner of Public Works and Parks