Indoor Pool Meeting
 

For those of you interested in an indoor pool, please put this Wednesday, December 10th on your calendar. There will be a meeting of the Amenity Authority Committee and one of the items on the agenda will be INDOOR pools in TV.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 9 AM at Savannah Center (1545 Buena Vista Blvd) in the Ashley-Wilkes Room. I STRONGLY URGE ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN INDOOR POOLS TO ATTEND.

This thread is not about causing controversy. We know all the pros and cons. This is just an informative thread for those who might want indoor pools in this wonderful place we live in. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me.

Hope to see you there! Thank you.

Karen

Karen - Do you know if anyone has prepared a presentation to the AAC re how to combat the 'cons' of the desired indoor pools?

and think seriously about whether you would be willing to accept a surcharge on your amenity fees and or an admission or indoor pool membership to help pay for the indoor pool.

Of course those of us who do not want to use or need the facility would not be charged anything.

The money has to come from some where.....right?

Here we go.

Carl Bell, of the AAC, is the one pushing for this. An unscientific poll on the on-line news is practically tied in support and non support. Bell would probably have the information you're looking for.

everyone who is pro must remember that a significant con is the cost.

A great leveler for all who are in favor is to see if they are willing to support the program finacially.

There is only so much money in the current and future budgets. And there certainly is no need for the developer to consider doing it at this stage of completion of TV.

There is only so much money in the pot!!!

The AAC is only spending money left over from the lawsuit, and people living south of CR466 are not involved in the AAC in anyway.

Thanks for the heads up Swim Dawg. I expect there are quite a few people that wouldn't mind spending money on a monthly or annual basis to have use of an indoor pool. Its really tough on lap swimmers in the summer. The outdoor pool water is in excess of 90 degrees as is the air temperature. And many people our age have skin cancer issues and need to be out of the sun. I always found it odd that an indoor pool is not being provided. The Villages put a lot of money into the Villages Wood Working shop, for example, and the members pay an annual fee to belong and to pay maintenance/upkeep. This would be a similar situation.

Thank you for sharing the information, Swimdawg. It's greatly appreciated.

Swimdawg, you represent a lot of us who like it!

Will they be barred from using a new indoor pool??

Attend the meeting on Dec 10 and find out.

All, while I have no interest in this project, one other item that the people who go to the meeting should consider and discuss. There may need to be a LIMIT on the number of people that can be using the facility at any given time, and there may need to be a limit on the number of memberships available. Look at a very successful health club, they can only support a certain number of people in the building at any given time, however, I am sure they have more members then pieces of equipment. And look at the airline industry where they tend to overbook.
This is my only comment, and I am making this so that the interested parties think about these items before any decisions are made.
I wish all good luck with the project, I have my own village pool and my own hot tub, is the lanai, so I also most have an enclosed pool.

There was a large INDOOR pool in the Sharon Morse Building in the area used by Lake Rehab. I don't know who owns the building or the pool.
It wasn't used for a couple of years (I saw it sitting unused with my own eyes in 2011 and again in 2012).
I heard the plan was to fill it in and put a cafeteria in that area. I don't know if that has been done.
I heard that they couldn't garner enough people willing to spend money on an indoor pool on an annual basis.
I have no idea if that is true, there may have been "political" reasons behind the pool not being used.
This is Hearsay from building employees, not fact.

A couple of key points to consider:

An indoor pool facility should be by membership fee, and it should be for lap swimming and fitness.

Sport pool time is what is needed in both winter and summer, under cover and temp controlled. Many of us have to avoid the daytime sun, but the early darkness now thru March drastically cuts short the sport pool lap swimming hours available when classes end at 3pm.

And as noted above, the summer sun heats the water to almost 90, making almost instant heat exhaustion for lap or fitness swimmers.

As we pay greens fees to play the championship golf courses--whose operational costs are far beyond an indoor pool--people should be able to understand paying to use an indoor pool, too.

I will wait for the minutes to be published.

Indoor pool
 

To answer your question regarding barring those south of 466---that would be unprecedented in TV. So, NO. However, there are several interesting issues regarding a possible indoor pool. (1). Are you going to build it new from scratch? If so, where? (2) Would you retrofit a current pool which could upset a village neighborhood? (3) Would you charge a membership fee? (4). What is the possibility of reaching out to the private sector to build such a facility?

I have wondered-
I believe the standard swim lap lane is 6' wide, right?
What would be good - 10 lanes in a pool?

That would necessitate a lap pool that is 60 ft. wide. Haven't a clue how long 'good' lap lanes are…. 54 Ft.?

How long does a lap swimmer swim? About an hour?

Given say, 12 hours of available swim time a day, that means that at most, back to back with no downtime,
one pool this size could accommodate 120 swimmers a day @ one hour each.

How would they govern this? Would a buzzer go off each hour to let you know your time is done?
Does the next swimmer dive into your lane when the buzzer goes off?

How many days a week do lap swimmers swim? Daily? 3 times a week?

Would one reserve a standing appt. for lap time? Would you reserve it online, like tee times?
What if you want to change your time for a few days, will you will get your original time back again?


What about those who are only here seasonally or those who only come- say, one week a month? Will lap time be available for them? Or will the standing reservations of full time residents eat that opportunity up?

What if you have a standing reservation and you don't show? Does the lane stay empty, or can the next person walk up and claim it for use?

Even if the pool was available 24 hours a day, that is only 240 available lap hours daily- maximum…. and leaves no time for maintenance.

Could 240 swimmers support this with -with what- yearly memberships?
Do you scalp your paid lap time (like season football tickets) when you will not be here?
Will there be someone at the pool the entire time as a moderator?

If intead, it is first come first served, will it become annoying to go there and maybe not find an open lane?
What would one do then, wait around?
:confused:

Thank you, Uptown Girl! :)

This is a huge expense to build and maintain ,for a limited amount of people.

This is easy - charge two fees to use it, a higher fee for people that do not want a priority swim membership and a lower fee for people that will pay for a priority swim membership, just like the serious golfers have to do to play the championship courses at reduced rates. And, here is the kicker, enough of the priority memberships need to be sold to make a SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION in the cost of the facility. Bang.

I think there is no question about the popularity of the idea of an indoor pool. The question I have, and I have heard it expressed here, is who is going to fund it? We have 100,000 plus people here now. Can one pool accommodate all of us?

Maybe they are planning something along the same plan as the The Villages Wood Shop. Members pay an "initiation" fee plus pay an annual membership fee. I am not sure how this works now but I was a member for some time but stopped renewing my membership as it was getting so crowded it became of little use to me. I am not sure if it is self sustaining.

Billethekid and Uptown Girl make some very valid points.

The championship golf courses are privately owned and are not funded by our amenity fees.

If a privately owned company wished to build an indoor pool here I believe they are free to do so. They would have to obtain space and construct the facility (the same as the CDD). There is space available but I don't believe anyone in the private sector has decided to make such an investment.

I say, just erect shades for the existing sports pools. Sunbrellas for all! ;)

I can only comment on one of your items. At the indoor pools I have used in the past, the lanes accommodated more than one swimmer. There were usually two going in opposite directions in the lane, plus a line of swimmers who somehow paced themselves not to run into each other.

Ahh… rather like synchronized lap swimming… I have never seen that!

Do you recall if the lanes at that pool were wider than 6 ft?

Yes, Carl Bell of the AAC will present a plan.

Thanx for the reply. I hope the event is well covered and reported so that those of us still off-campus will be made aware and informed. AAC minutes can sometimes be quite abbreviated.

I would estimate that they were not. In the last pool (LA Fitness in Pennsylvania), I believe there were four lanes. We would help push lane lines over to the sides to be lifted out before our aerobics class.

I have received an outpouring of pm's and emails from people who support the indoor pool concept. Unfortunately, many are out of town because of the holidays. I urge anyone who is interested and in town to attend the meeting.

The pros and cons have been hashed and rehashed on this forum. I could go on and on and on about the pros....but "been there, done that". That's why I wrote that this thread is not about causing controversy.

Hope to see you at the meeting on Wednesday at 9 AM- Savannah Center.

There is a clear reason why indoor swim facilities are scarce--- They are extreemely expensive and maintenance hogs. They are most prevalent in areas where the costs are spread accross the entire city, county, or state tax base or are provided by 501c3 or other charity organizations.
Im not confident that it could be supported by user fees even if the "Developer" constructed it and gave it to the 'Community"

Let's see the "full in" numbers.

Indoor Pool Meeting
 

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If the pools are to be enclosed and airconditioned out of concern for health reasons having to do with the sun would not logic dictate the golfers, pickleball and tennis players need AC enclosures also? Could it be people that do not want to be in the sun have moved to FL by mistake? If a person wants to ice fish, they should not move to FL or if its to hot to go in the pool in FL in the summer you should be a snowbird or move to Stonecrest (indoor pool).

Where is all this hate coming from? Someone posts a meeting notice about indoor pools, and people are being told if they don't like it here they should move to Stonecrest. Shame on you!

I'm sure the Villages, in their great wisdom, will weigh in on all the data, and make the right decision. For those of you interested in an indoor pool, such as the lap swimmers, the many water volleyball teams, the Villages Swim team, water aerobics classes and so on, please come to the meeting and voice your opinions.

Other public pools I've gone to have lanes wide enough to accommodate circle swimming. You might have 5 or 6 people swimming at the same time in the lane, in a circle so to speak. Its generally first come, first serve. Depending on the size of the pool there may be 8-10 lanes, so there is usually little to no waiting for a lane.

Someone else mentioned pool (sun) covers. Personally, I think that might accomplish the same thing, if used along with water chillers, and may be less expensive, if used over an existing pool. But, I would imagine the costs would be borne by Villages residents, whereas a new indoor pool could charge membership fees which would not impact the residents.

Before the membership fees, paying for the structure and the land would be necessary. Who would pay for that? If it was a private business why would the CDD be involved? The CDD does not deal in commercial property.

Those folks have more clothes on, and the sunblock they use does not wash off. Indoor pools are all-weather, and they are not rare.

If they have more clothes on they would have a greater need for AC than the people in the pool.

I think that reasoning is obtuse. Maybe even specious.

Well tomorrow (Wed, 10 Dec) is the meeting which will include talk (maybe) about this topic. Info in another site says the desired location is where the El Santiago pool is now because there is a large parking lot which could become home to the facility. Hmmmmm How many pools are available up this part of TV now? Darned few... Let's not get rid of one for I suspect a small number of folks to be indoors all year. Oh and let's not forget the new Santiago Rec Center will be built there soon - so much for all that parking space. Not needed... NOT the right location if someone really wants it.