Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I'm against it, too.

I don't think cities should be in the swimmimg pool business. See how one of the other posters says Grovrport will feel the heat when other cities build their facilities. If Groveport is still being subsidised and other cities cut into that revenue, there's your slippery slope. These are private sector businesses and should stay as such.

By Time will tell

Differences

I believe there is a considerable difference between what Groveport has built and what Pickerington has purchased. I am not sure what the total costs are for the Groveport Aquatic Center despite the published figure of $12.5 Million. The article didn?’t specify if the 12.5 million was for the Rec. Center or the Rec. Center and the pools. Anyway the debt service on that 12.5 million will be 1 million per year for 20 years.

Pickerington?’s pool will be paid off in three years and none of that money for the purchase will come from existing taxpayer?’s only new built homes in the city.

The point here is that Pickerington can walk away from the operation much easier than Groveport with its permanent building in place.

Traditionally Groveport and Canal Winchester have had municipal swimming pools as far back as I can remember. The Pickerington area has relied on private pools. Pickerington is buying a pool that was being operated as a ?“for profit pool.?” I have not studied the books but I understand they have been making money the last few years. The Pickerington pool is surrounded by a neighborhood of a couple of thousand homes where the neighborhood kids could ride their bikes to it in the summer. The Groveport pool is out in a flood plan away for the population and the only safe way to access the pool is by driving. The only draw back I see for the Pickerington pool is it is not accessible by sidewalks or from the sub-division streets for the kids from the city to have access.

Operating the Pickerington pool as a summer recreation pool should be very easy for the city to operate with little or no subsidies.

I understand that during the summer the pool Maxes out its capacity and stops admitting swimmers. So I think that market is there. To enlarge the pool to the full Olympic size (50 meters) would allow for more people to use the pool in the summer and it would make it useful for the private and High School Swim teams for training. There are many parents spending thousand of dollars every year to drive their kids to an out of the area pool for the year round training. So I believe there is a market for year round use. Placing a flexible dome over the pool and heating the pool in the winter months would provide for the other local market available to the Pickerington Pool.


Going beyond that point might be too risky for the city. Because once Pickerington brings back their local residents from the Groveport pool, Groveport will suffer. I also think there will be some private operators that will consider building fitness centers and indoor pools and that will impact the swimming pool services even more. I would caution the city to use restraint when they consider moving forward with any more than they already have. Even if they expand the current pool and place a dome over it none of those expenses are high enough to lock them into any long term loses. I guess the bottom line is don?’t over build a pool facility, where like Groveport we must market that pool to those living outside of our area.

By Ted Hackworth