See if this story sounds familiar: You're operating
a community swimming pool that, in its heyday, was the centerpiece of
summertime activity. It was the place to be on a hot summer day, when
nearly every kid and parent in town would be diving and splashing and
socializing by the pool. Now, 30 years later, attendance has nearly
dried up, and so will the pool if the leaks and cracks in the pool and
pipes can't be patched together for another season.Even
if the pool can be salvaged, is it really providing the recreation the
community wants? The dwindling attendance figures suggest the answer.
Scenarios similar to this are being played out all
across the country. A boom of community swimming pools accompanied
America's rush to the suburbs in the 1950s and ¥60s, and now those
pools are facing their golden years. Most of these facilities are
showing their age, while a few have resisted the ravages of time.
Regardless, nearly all share the same attendance and revenue drainage.
What's the best way to turn this tide? The answers vary from case to
case. Many communities have successfully modified existing structures
and won back significant enthusiasm and attendance. Others have started
again from scratch. Deciding which direction is right can be a
challenge, but with research, analysis and some effort, you can
determine whether renovation or replacement is right for your facility.
Hold On To What You've Got
Just because your aquatic facility isn't a teenager
anymore doesn't mean it can't have a little pride in how it looks. Just
as you exercise and eat wisely to maintain your health (or at least
have good intentions), an ongoing fitness program for your swimming
pool, deck, bathhouse and mechanical areas will prolong the useful life
of the facility. Even small acts of tender loving careBoth
of these outcomes will help maximize revenue, and when it comes time to
represent your case for changes, you'll be able to show you've done
everything possible with the existing facility.
Also,it will be immensely
useful in the future to have substantive documentation of the current
and recent operating history of the facility, so start building a file.
Include safety reports, maintenance issues, attendance and revenue.
This history will be helpful, again, when it is time to seek the
support of civic leaders.
Know Your Customers
Before deciding which direction is right for the future of your community, you should know what the community
thinks. Find out what your patrons like and what they don't like. While
this can be accomplished through mail or phone surveys, a more honest
response can often be obtained at the pool by surveying customers in
person. People are less likely to simply complain, and instead, will
honestly and more constructively reflect on the experience at hand.
Appropriate topics for evaluation include staffing, quality of service,
cleanliness, water quality, overall appearance, what they like best< p>
Perhaps even more importantly, than knowing who your customers are and what they like, however, is knowing who your customers aren't
and why they aren't coming to your pool. Often this is a much larger
group of potential customers than your remaining active customers. You
need to know why people who once came to your pool are no longer
attending. Have the demographics changed<>
It isn't as easy to survey people who aren't
sitting by the poolside, but it is worth the effort to seek them out.
Look through old annual pass records, visit competitive facilities, go
to a local mall or other popular gathering place and ask people for
their opinions and suggestions.
Another beneficial point of view can come from your
peers in neighboring communities. Invite P&R managers to visit your
facility and share their candid, fresh viewpoints with you. Often, when
you see your pool day in and day out, you become blind to subtle
changes that have gradually occurred over the years. You may be
accustomed to something because it has always been that way, but a
fresh set of eyes might help you see ways to improve the facility,
often with little cost.
Accessing the Nature of Obsolescence
The closets, storage rooms and basements of America
are filled with computers that still work as well as they did they day
they were manufactured. Absolutely nothing is electronically or
mechanically wrong with them; yet they are functionally obsolete. They
still work with the software they were born with, but no one wants to
use that software anymore; and their hard drives, RAM, and lack of
peripheral equipment can't keep up with the latest software.
Your pool may be similarly obsolete; and before you
decide to renovate or replace, you should understand and be able to
recognize the two kinds of obsolescence.
Physical Obsolescence
Physical obsolescence usually means your facility
is simply worn out. The shell may be cracked and leaking, deck surfaces
are splaying, concrete slabs heaving, recirculation and supply pipes
are rusting and leaking, filter systems are malfunctioning, the
bathhouse roof is leaking, the parking lot is crumbling, light fixtures
are broken. These are a few of the many conditions that describe a
facility that has lived beyond its useful life. All these things can be
repaired, of course; but at what cost and to what end?
Often, physical obsolescence can occur for reasons
other than deterioration, and usually, as a result of changing safety
and health codes. Perfectly operational filtration systems can become
obsolete as a result of a change in turnover rate requirements. A
10-hour turnover rate was uncommon 30-40 years agoSubsequently standards dropped to eight hours, and in many states today, a six-hour turnover rate is preferred.
Pool shells that are tight as a drum have become
obsolete because of changing safety requirements for water depth below
starting blocks and diving boards. Acceptable water depths under
starting blocks used to be 3-1/2 to 4 feet when many of the nations
pools were built in the ¥50s. Today, in the states of Texas and
Michigan, 6-foot depths or greater are required These standardsmay
be adopted by other states and could become the standard for future
designs. Diving wells, hopper design and board configuration are also
experiencing new safety codes to further minimize risk of cervical
injury and impact with the pool bottom. Even bathhouses and entryways
have become physically obsolete as a result of new health and safety
code and ADA standards for freedom of access.
Safe lighting levels, GFI protection and other
electrical requirements have also changed with updated codes through
the years. Again, all these things can be fixed repaired or replaced;
but at what cost and to what end?
Functional Obsolescence
It is possible<>
Attendance erosion and revenue decline, resulting
in increased subsidy, are all indicators of functional obsolescence.
Recreation is a perishable commodity and needs to continually be
refreshed to maintain popularity. If patrons no longer find it fun to
use your facility and if it is no longer attractive to the market
compared with other recreational opportunities, people will stop coming.
Functional obsolescence might begin with the
static, rectangular body of water, but it can also implicate the narrow
deck, the entrance through the bathrooms and showers, the isolated
kiddy pool and the chain-link fence with the picnic area on the other
side. Today, the expectations for aquatic recreation in most
communities include zero-beach entry to shallow free-form bodies of
water featuring waterslides, interactive play features, current rivers
and bubble benches. Wide, inviting decks provide ample opportunity for
socializing in sun or shade, with grassy areas, trees, shrubs and
flowers giving the facility a park-like environment and pushing back to
fences to the point of near invisibility.
Customers' expectations can also lead to functional
obsolescence of your entrance and bathhouse. People don't expect to be
led through the bathrooms on the way to the pool area anymore. Patrons
also look for diaper changing areas, family changing rooms and more
fixtures than what were provided in facilities built 30 years ago. In
some cases, changing health codes make issues of physical obsolescence.
But whether they are demanded by code or expected by customers,
obsolescence is the result.
Mechanical systems, too, can be functionally
obsolete from the operator's point of view. Older manual systems may
get the job done, but automated systems available today make it much
easier to accurately and efficiently monitor water quality and perform
other maintenance procedures. Continuous monitors sample water every
few seconds, automatically and immediately making system adjustments to
minimize problems and maximize safety. If something gets out of whack,
the systems can contact the operator by pager or phone. They can even
backwash themselves. The lack of these features might not make for
physical obsolescence; but in an environment where saving labor costs
and maximizing efficient use of energy and materials is vtital, it can
add to conditions making a facility functionally obsolete.
Food services can also have an element of
functional obsolescence. Today, more sophisticated, efficient food
delivery systems provide a higher quality of food, with faster
preparation and delivery, using minimal labor and expense. People
expect these improvements as part of their recreation experience;
anything less adds to a facility's functional obsolescence.
Renovate or Replace
Finding out what your community wants and
accurately accessing the degree to which your facility provides it are
the first steps toward reviving your community aquatics program.
Weighing the different options available to you is the next step. Of
course, maintaining the status quo is one option but is doubtful to
provide any turn of fortunes.
So, for many people, renovation and replacement are
the real choices. The seductive excitement of building a brand new
state-of-the-art aquatic center usually gets first review, but
frequently budgetary reality quickly sends designers back to the
drawing boards. In these cases, the opportunities for vast improvements
through renovation of an existing facility shouldn't be underestimated.
Supersizing an existing facility can create dramatic improvements in
recreational value and can increase attendance and revenues
significantly.
A Case Study
In 1972, my father, Joe Hunsaker, designed a pool
facility for the community of Shrewsbury in suburban St. Louis County,
Missouri. The pool shared much in common with other community pools of
its dayarea of the pool, creating an ideal teaching platform as well as a place for seniors to congregate.
By
the 1990s, however, the pool had become functionally obsolete, and in
1998, options were considered for its repair, renovation and
replacement. Ultimately, the decision was made to supersize thepool,
working as much as possible with the existing pool shell to maximize
cost efficiency. We designed a pool inside the existing pool,
converting it into a leisure pool with tot area, zero-beach entry,
spray features, shade structures in the pool, interactive play systems
and a single flume waterslide with a tower designed to accept a second
flume in the future. We also recreated the teaching area that was so
popular in the existing pool. Other features included a water vortex
and a current river with senior seating area.
The
community had a long history of competitive swimming, so a new 6-lane,
25-yard pool was added with recessed stairs and a 1-meter diving board.
Original plans also indicated significant improvements to the bathhouse
and food service areas; but subsequent budgetary restraints led to the
decision to put the money into recreation features rather than support
structures.
The
supersized renovation created many of the amenities popularized by
water parks and aquatic centers, while working within the budget
restrictions of the community. And it was successful in turning
Shrewsbury's aquatic programming around. In its first season, the pool
enjoyed a significant increase in attendance and revenue, despite an
unusually cool summer.
When
considering the supersizing renovation option, it is important to
carefully weigh the value of proposed improvements and prioritize them
according to their likely affect on attendance and revenue. The parking
lot, for example, may be showing some age, but people will not come to
the facility because of its newly paved parking area. Similarly, people
will be compelled to come to a facility because of its new bathhouse.
Granted, those features may play a role in a person's decision not to come to the facility. But it will be the features with recreation value<>
Also,
when judging the worth of one option over another, consider not only
the initial project costs, but how the long-term operating costs and
revenues will be influenced. One option may cost substantially more
than another, but increased attendance and higher fees justified by
greater recreation value may improve the long-term financial picture of
the option that, in the short-term, is more costly. A professional
design consulting firm can help evaluate all these variables.
How To Get Started
If
your pool is showing the signs of functional or physical obsolescence,
the time to begin the process toward change is now. It may take 2-3
years to go through investigation, review, funding, design and
construction stages of development, so the sooner you begin the
process, the quicker you'll open the doors to your new or renovated
aquatic center.
As
stated before, start by documenting the state of your existing
facility, including attendance and revenue histories, mechanical and
structural maintenance issues. A professional design consultant can
help conduct a facility audit to analyze the condition of your current
facility and programming. The consultant can also prepare design
options and individualized business plans for each option, describing
the expected project costs, projected attendance and revenues, and
ongoing maintenance, labor and other costs associated with the design
proposals.
This
report should also include an analysis of the existing competitive
environment, existing and potential user groups and their expressed
facility wants and needs, and a demographic study of the community
reflecting population trends, income and other statistical evaluation
of the community's potential to support the proposed facility.
This
information will be invaluable, not only in helping you make an
educated decision on what proposals to make to the community and civic
leaders, but it will also help you educatethem and provide background to help them come to a position of support for the proposals.
Ultimately,
whether you repair, renovate or replace, it is important that you do so
based on a solid understanding of your facility's capabilities, the
wishes of patrons both present and potential and a clear view of the
many possibilities that can be explored to create the aquatic
programming your community deserves.