Waters Edge Aquatic Design presented their findings from the recently completed aquatic feasibility study for the City of Mount Vernon.
Over the past year, Waters Edge has conducted two in person discussions on the potential new aquatic center, as well as collecting information from the community in two month long surveys.
“Engagement in both in-person and online surveys exceeded what we thought would happen,” said Lauren Ozburn with Waters Edge. “We found that swimming is important and valuable to the community, with more than 99 percent saying that was the case.”
In the first poll, Ozburn found that residents have attended another facility in the past five years because of the amenities or programs offered at a different facility.
When the study began, members of the community had looked at outdoor versus indoor pools.
Mount Vernon’s population was roughly 4,500 at the last census, and is expected to grow to the 5,000 mark by 2035. Using that population as a springboard, Ozburn said the size of aquatic facility the city should be looking at constructing should be in the 7,150 to 10,000 square feet size.
Currently, there is minimal competition for Mount Vernon in the 10 mile radius, with the Lisbon and Solon Splash Pads being the only centers within that radius. Ozburn said if Mount Vernon were to add a splash pad to their offerings, she would recommend not duplicating the efforts in other communities.
The study looked at three potential locations for a new aquatic center – remaining in Davis Park, relocating to Nature Park or an indoor only pool at the Lester Buresh Center.
There were a number of challenges at Nature Park that made recommending that location more of a challenge, including topographic work that would be neeed, extension of utilities and street extensions or modifications. As well, it conflicted with what people expect that particular park to be.
Ozburn walked the council through the five options that were originally presented at the November 2022 aquatic center community input session – two outdoor options and three indoor pool options.
Option A, the outdoor pool that kept the two pools separate, had some strengths, as well as an ability to enclose the lap pool and offer that pool year round.
Each outdoor pool option had cost recovery of roughly 75 to 80 percent. Enclosing the lap pool to turn it into a year round pool would reduce that cost recovery, as the costs of heating water, chemical treatment and staffing for a pool year round would increase costs to users taking advantage.
The cost recovery for all of the indoor pools presented was at 40 to 60 percent range, but those facilities also required fewer lifeguards on staff.
When it came to survey results from the second survey, community sentiment favored Concept A, the outdoor pool that had separate lap swim pool, recreation pool and splash pad options, with 78 percent favoring the concept.
For indoor, the best option was also the first indoor pool, which offered a recreation pool, lap swimming area and a therapy pool.
“That lines up with what your community has identified as important to them – spaces for swim lessons and kids recreation areas, as well as lap lanes,” Ozburn said.
Ozburn’s final point was that the final decision for the aquatic center found that the community was almost evenly split on outdoor (53 percent) versus indoor (47 percent).
Council member Stephanie West wondered if the indoor pool and staffing would eliminate some double staffing.
Parks and recreation director Matt Siders said that lifeguards would continue to be a staffing hiccup for any location, as there is a shortage of lifeguards for any facility operating all year long.
Ozburn said that the costs for the LBC pools did not account for parking expansion, which would most likely need to be explored for any option there.
Discussion also concerned an 8 lane 25 meter pool as one of the options they are exploring, as that could meet NCAA standards and allow for partnership with Cornell College for an indoor option.
Nosbisch said that would also require additional seating.
“There’s really no benefit for us to consider going from a six lane lap pool to an eight lane pool without a Cornell commitment,” Nosbisch said.
Nosbisch said he was very impressed with the project and study coming back to the council from Waters Edge, and that it would now be the council who will start looking at what is feasible from a fiscal standpoint.
“We only have so much in borrowing capacity, so many of these centers, without sizable private donations, may be too much for the city to purchase right now, but it gives us ideas of what to consider and phase for a multi-year project,” Nosbisch said.
The city will likely not be looking to start any construction on a new pool for a minimum of three years, Nosbisch said.
The council will revisit discussions on the aquatic center and study in council meetings in May.