The Potential of a Community Pool
One of the consistent subjects that come up when discussing a campground in Lowell is the desire for a Community Pool. I agree 100% - a community pool would be fantastic. It would expand what the YMCA could offer, it would allow swim teams from our schools to have a home base, great family fun, etc. etc.
It just so happens that I was involved in some meetings a few years ago when the possibility of a community pool, or pools, was being explored as a co-operative effort between the YMCA, Lowell Schools and the Peter Wege Foundation. The Foundation had some property and funding, the schools wanted a pool as did the YMCA and the population in general.
I cannot find my notes, but I remember almost falling out of my chair when the annual costs of community pools were put on the table. I say "pools" because the proposal included a 6 or 8 lane Olympic style 50 meter pool, a diving pool (diving boards), and a heated, therapy kind of pool. I do not like to throw around dollar amounts unless I am sure of them, so I hopped on the web and found this helpful document from a similar study done by the City of Conway (NH) in 2015. (The meetings I was involved in would have been prior to 2015.)
Anyway, here are some projected annual costs of similar community pools:
Not sure if you can see them, but the projected operating costs without salaries ranges between $378,000 to $531,000 per year depending on the size of the pool(s). That is NOT the cost to build the pool - that is what the City was looking at for keeping the doors open and the water heated and treated, etc.
When they factored in salaries, etc. USA Swimming figured the pools would need to generate over a million dollars of income per year to keep things rolling. ($1,067,000.00). If you are interested, I will put the entirety of the two page report below as well as a link to the documentation I found so that you know I am not pulling this out of the air.
To do an indoor, year round community pool facility that would satisfy schools, YMCA members, and people in the community requires a lot of money. It would also call for the co-operative effort of the City of Lowell and the two big townships - Lowell and Vergennes as well as Lowell Area Schools and the YMCA (if they wanted to be part of it). Impossible? Not at all. Would it represent a good size challenge? You bet. I love the idea of a pool, but frankly not enough to devote my time and energy after work to seeing it come to pass.
My purpose in posting this is so that interested parties have a better idea of the funds necessary for a truly functional community pool. If the fire is in your belly to make it happen - rock on! It can be done, but it is helpful to know what needs to be done before you take it on.
Here is the link to read the full extent of the City of Conway's look into a Community Pool:
It just so happens that I was involved in some meetings a few years ago when the possibility of a community pool, or pools, was being explored as a co-operative effort between the YMCA, Lowell Schools and the Peter Wege Foundation. The Foundation had some property and funding, the schools wanted a pool as did the YMCA and the population in general.
I cannot find my notes, but I remember almost falling out of my chair when the annual costs of community pools were put on the table. I say "pools" because the proposal included a 6 or 8 lane Olympic style 50 meter pool, a diving pool (diving boards), and a heated, therapy kind of pool. I do not like to throw around dollar amounts unless I am sure of them, so I hopped on the web and found this helpful document from a similar study done by the City of Conway (NH) in 2015. (The meetings I was involved in would have been prior to 2015.)
Anyway, here are some projected annual costs of similar community pools:
Not sure if you can see them, but the projected operating costs without salaries ranges between $378,000 to $531,000 per year depending on the size of the pool(s). That is NOT the cost to build the pool - that is what the City was looking at for keeping the doors open and the water heated and treated, etc.
When they factored in salaries, etc. USA Swimming figured the pools would need to generate over a million dollars of income per year to keep things rolling. ($1,067,000.00). If you are interested, I will put the entirety of the two page report below as well as a link to the documentation I found so that you know I am not pulling this out of the air.
To do an indoor, year round community pool facility that would satisfy schools, YMCA members, and people in the community requires a lot of money. It would also call for the co-operative effort of the City of Lowell and the two big townships - Lowell and Vergennes as well as Lowell Area Schools and the YMCA (if they wanted to be part of it). Impossible? Not at all. Would it represent a good size challenge? You bet. I love the idea of a pool, but frankly not enough to devote my time and energy after work to seeing it come to pass.
My purpose in posting this is so that interested parties have a better idea of the funds necessary for a truly functional community pool. If the fire is in your belly to make it happen - rock on! It can be done, but it is helpful to know what needs to be done before you take it on.
Here is the link to read the full extent of the City of Conway's look into a Community Pool:
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