Alexandria Council: Keep Warwick Pool Open, For Now

Members of Alexandria City Council expressed a desire to keep Warwick Pool open at least in the short term as it pursues the construction of a new competition-size pool at Chinquapin Recreation Center during a budget work session last week focused on the city’s aquatics master plan. 

City Manager Rashad Young proposed to close Warwick Pool, one of two large outdoor pools in Alexandria, as part of his fiscal year 2014 city budget plan. The move would save the city $92,000—the cost to staff and operate the pool this spring and summer—in general operating funds for FY14.

• See: Future of Warwick Pool Hangs in the Balance
• See: City Manager Proposes $626.6 Million Operating Budget

The pool needs more than $6,000 in repairs just to reopen this year. The facility also requires more than $500,000 in deferred maintenance “to bring the pool up to standards” in the next five years if the pool remains open, Young said.

Mayor Bill Euille and all six members of council said they want to keep the pool open at least for this summer. Several expressed concerns about closing Warwick Pool the same summer Chinquapin is scheduled to close for five months of HVAC repairs.

“You can’t have both closed; it just can’t be,” said Councilwoman Del Pepper, adding it would exacerbate crowding problems at Old Town Pool.

Young said council could find the operational costs for Warwick Pool in the add-delete process ahead of adopting a final budget in May.

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The tougher question for the city is how it will address the long-term future of Warwick Pool and all of the city’s aquatics facilities through capital investments.

“We’ve had three straight city managers who have said to council over and over again ‘You need to make investment into aquatics capital infrastructure’ and we haven’t done that,” Councilman Justin Wilson said. “The policy decision has been inaction, which will shutdown the aquatics facilities in the city.”

A $50 million strategic plan for the city’s aquatics facilities was revealed last year. In the plan, consultants recommended a five-pool system in the city, while converting Warwick Pool and other aging facilities into spraygrounds. Those projects remain unfunded, but the city has used the plan as guidance.

• See: Alexandria Contemplates New Swimming Pools

Councilmembers differed on spraygrounds during the work session. Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg and Councilman John Chapman said they offered a limited use. Others said their children loved spraygrounds. 

Jim Spengler, director of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Activities, and Young asked council for some direction on its priorities for investments in aquatics facilities. In turn, the council asked for some cost estimates before making a more formal policy decision.

“We need pools people can use,” Councilman Paul Smedberg said. “Attractiveness is fine, but we still need the right pools. We need the pools people want to use.”

Members of Advocates for Alexandria Aquatics, a recently-formed group seeking to raise $3 to $5 million and partner with the city to create new aquatics facilities, said there’s a need for a competition-sized 50-meter pool within the city’s aquatics community. Such a pool could open up new revenue streams for the city by hosting meets and other events.

• See: 

Pepper said members of the city’s swimming community called the construction of Chinquapin without a 50-meter pool a mistake when it opened in 1985.

Councilmembers agreed that creating such a pool at Chinquapin should be a priority.

Besides capital investments, Wilson suggested the city should consider operating its aquatics facilities in a more “entrepreneurial manner” by offering concessions or perhaps raising usage fees.

Spengler said Warwick, an aging facility, is in danger of a structural collapse. It also is not compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines. Its positioning on a hillside could also hamper and plans for a new pool structure at the site.

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The Virginia Theological Seminary leases Warwick Pool to the city. In 2007, the lease was extended for 30 years.

Bill Rivers, a board member with Advocates for Alexandria Aquatics, said keeping Warwick open another summer would allow the city and his group to engage and potentially partner with the Seminary to extend the life of the pool.

“I think in an ideal world you want a pool at Warwick [as opposed to a sprayground],” Rivers said. “I would question putting a new pool there if the Seminary isn’t on board. If they’re not on board, you’d have to think about it.”