WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT ISSUE 19
Douglas Southgate, Past-President of Swiminc
On July 15, 2024, five of the seven members of Worthington’s City Council voted to place a property tax levy on the November 5th ballot. If the levy is approved, Swiminc’s plan to reconstruct three outdoor pools it manages on the grounds of Thomas Worthington High School (TWHS) will be implemented. The levy will raise $11.4 million of the plan’s cost, estimated to be $15.4 million. The City will draw on its general funds to cover the remainder of that cost.
Two pieces of important information about Issue 19 have not been communicated yet to voters.
1. There is no need whatsoever for the centerpiece of Swiminc’s plan: a Central Pool 50 meters long and 18 yards wide that is designed for open-air aquatic competition.
2. Kids’ pool space will be sacrificed to accommodate the Central Pool’s excessive size.
Not that anyone can tell from reading the City’s fact sheet about the tax levy or the current issue of Village Talks, but the Central Pool is undeniably the centerpiece of Swiminc’s plan. Its surface area (8,700 square feet) is 72 percent of the combined area of the other two bodies of water:
· an Adult Pool of 6,650 square feet, which will be off limits to anyone under eighteen, and
· an Activity Pool of 5,470 square feet, which will have various amenities for children.
Also, a few recreational add-ons for the Central Pool, such as a climbing wall, are highlighted in the fact sheet and Village Talks. Regardless, competitive sports, not recreation, will be its fundamental purpose. The Central Pool will have “eight 50-meter lap lanes suitable for long course competition” and a “regulation size water polo course in the deep end of the pool,” to quote the final report Swiminc’s technical consultant submitted on June 1, 2023.
The main thing everyone needs to understand is that the Central Pool will be the second facility for aquatic competition on the TWHS campus, not the first. The first such facility is now being built by the school district – a new natatorium costing $13 million and containing a pool with 40 percent more square footage than the pool inside the existing natatorium, which will be demolished.
The new natatorium is not mentioned in the fact sheet or in Village Talks. Likewise, the City has not acknowledged in print that all local teams will have year-round access to all the pool space they need for practices and meets once the new natatorium opens, no later than October 2025. None of those teams will require an outdoor facility – either from September to May (when the Central Pool will sit idle and empty) or during the summer.
The only conceivable reason for an open-air body of water of Olympic dimensions is to host large tournaments during the summer. Swiminc’s consultant reckons the Central Pool will be suitable for such tournaments, which might attract teams from throughout Ohio and even from other states. So if Issue 19 passes, the infrastructure needed for Worthington to become a regional mecca for competitive aquatics will be built – all courtesy of the city’s taxpayers, of course.
Meanwhile, aquatic space for youngsters will be reduced.
· The new Activity Pool will have a surface area of 5,470 square feet – nearly 10 percent less than the 6,000 square feet in the old kids’ pool, which is slated for demolition.
· Also, youngsters will lose another 200 to 300 square feet set aside for them in the southeastern corner of the existing Middle Pool. There will be no such space – with shallow water and a mini slide – in the new Central Pool, which will replace the Middle Pool.
Additionally, half the Central Pool – the half where the “regulation size water polo course” will be located – will be at least six feet deep. Much or all the other half could be just as deep: no one can say because this information is not provided in the consultant’s report.
Covering 8,700 square feet, the Central Pool is custom designed for members of competitive teams and others who are good swimmers. All others – adults who are not confident swimmers no less than children – will have to go elsewhere for aquatic recreation.
There Is a Better and Less Expensive Alternative
The City of Worthington should make no investment in competitive aquatics – in the Central Pool, to be specific – since the school district is about to provide all the aquatic infrastructure local teams need. Any new outdoor complex built on the TWHS campus should be for recreation, nothing else.
· Lap swimmers of all ages should be allowed in the Adult Pool, which might have to be enlarged so that everyone, including adolescents, can be accommodated.
· If a 50-meter pool is not built, there will be enough space and plenty of money for an expanded Activity Pool, one that will meet the needs of families with young children.
A few years might be needed to design and construct an aquatic complex consisting solely of a pair of pools such as these. The City of Worthington is uniquely capable of accomplishing this task.
The City should get to work immediately on outdoor pool reconstruction that best satisfies the needs of recreational swimmers in this community – without raising taxes unnecessarily.
NOTE: The author of this statement is being denied access to local Facebook sites, such as Worthington Ohio Open Discussion, so please consider sharing the statement with other voters. For a copy of the statement or additional information, email WorthingtonIssue19@hotmail.com.
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