City official says he has no idea when, or if, an indoor city pool will be built based on the city’s cost assessment of the project.
It seems that Athens city residents’ dreams of having an indoor pool are taking a dive.
Although an original $7.3 million dollar design featured an indoor pool, that possibility is unlikely with unforeseen financial losses, Rich Campitelli, director of Athens City Arts, Parks and Recreation, said.
Plans for the project began earlier this year after voters approved of a 0.1 percent tax increase in November to fund Athens City Arts, Parks and Recreation, according to a previous Post report.
“There is not enough money in the levy to support a really nice outdoor pool and really nice indoor pool,” he said.
Campitelli said he has no idea when, or if, an indoor city pool will be built based on the city’s cost assessment of the project.
Campitelli estimated a loss of $150,000 a year would be the result of running an indoor pool alongside a new outdoor pool, and a city pool would simply not be able to compete with the already existing Ohio University Aquatic Center, which houses an Olympic-size lap pool. He said a future levy is possible to fund the construction of an indoor pool.
Athens resident Mark Barsamian, who has attended town hall meetings to voice his concerns on the project, said he was disappointed with the vague wording in the initial levy, saying many people were misled on what they were actually voting for.
Campitelli said the initial levy did not reference an indoor pool, and that it will not only be utilized for funding the pool project, but also addressing trails and park systems needing maintenance.
Athens City Councilman Kent Butler said in an email the levy only stated that if passed, the money would be used to support Arts, Parks and Recreation.
“A city pool is not a ‘life or death’ issue,” he added. “It is a commodity. Not a necessity. Conversely, the pool represents the city's efforts to embrace quality of life and wellness needs. The input from concerned and disgruntled citizens offers justification to pause and reflect.”
Barsamian also expressed his concern on the city’s hiring of an outside consulting firm, Brandstetter and Caroll, instead of relying on planning from within the city, such as the city engineer.
“We wanted an outside view of professionals who have built tons of pools over the last 15, 20 years,” Campitelli said. “We’re not saying that our engineer or our rec department aren’t capable of coming up with the design or talking to the people. We run it, but we don’t design and build and use different equipment.”
Butler said the city was wise in hiring a company that is an expert in constructing such facilities nationwide.
However, Barsamian argues the collaboration of city planners and engineers who are familiar with the traffic patterns of the area is essential to the completion of the project.
He added that even if the city decided to hire an outside consultant, the current draft of the plan should have done a better job of providing a design that is representative of community members’ needs.
“I think they need to be more explicit about how they use the community input to use the design instead of simply having an online forum or town hall meeting where they listen to people and nod their heads, and then just come up with what looks like a clip art design that doesn’t seem to address any of the concerns that the people have,” Barsamian said.
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