Wichita to vote Tuesday on whether to eliminate up to nine pools
The only Wichita public pool that will be definitely be around in the foreseeable future is the College Hill pool: the city council votes on Tuesday on how many pools the city will eliminate.
The parks department has provided the city with three options for how many pools to support: five pools, three pools or one pool.
The city has nine functioning pools right now and another, Edgemoor, which is currently closed due to a leak but could be reopened under one of the plans. So the city will eliminate at least five pools and as many as nine, depending on how the city council votes.
The city’s plans would replace any pools that are eliminated with water playgrounds, where children can splash around in fountains and play with water spouts. The water playgrounds don’t require lifeguards, are cheaper to operate and are more accessible.
“While many of us are nostalgic regarding our times at the pools, the numbers don’t bear out that that’s really that popular,” Wichita City Manager Robert Layton told The Wichita Eagle last March. “You’re going to find many more children using the water playgrounds than you are with swimming pools.”
The Park Board has recommended that the city keep five pools, the maximum under consideration, according to Troy Houtman, director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
The proposals recommend preserving the pools with the most attendance and the best distribution throughout the city, according to Houtman.
The city is also proposing to pay the YMCA $5,000 a year for swimming vouchers good at the Y pools.
The three proposals
The 5-pool option: Under the Park Board’s recommended plan there would be five pools: Aley, College Hill, Edgemoor, Evergreen and Harvest. The Edgemoor pool, which closed in 2012 because of a leak, would be renovated in 2019.
The following pools would stay open until they are replaced with water playgrounds and possibly some additional amenities: Boston would get a water playground in 2020, Minisa in 2021, Linwood in 2022 and Orchard in 2023. The McAdams pool would be closed for the summer of 2019 and then get a water playground in 2020.
The 3-pool option: The city would fully renovate the Aley and Harvest pools in 2021, and update the College Hill pool in 2022. The other seven pools would stay open until they are turned into water playgrounds. Boston, Edgemoor and McAdams would get water playgrounds in 2019, Evergreen in 2020, Linwood in 2021, and Minisa and Orchard in 2022.
The 1-pool option: Every pool other than College Hill would be turned into a water playground. The pools would stay open until the water playground is built. Edgemoor and McAdams would get a water playground in 2019, Evergreen in 2021, Boston in 2022, and Aley and Harvest in 2023.
Additional water playgrounds would be installed in the following parks between 2020 and 2024: Watson, Country Acres, Harrison, Planeview, Schweiter, Hyde and Southview. This plan would add a total of 16 water playgrounds.
What changed?
Attendance at Wichita’s public pools has fluctuated between 65,000 and 100,000 since 2001. In 2016, 80,002 people visited a public pool.
But the city allocated only $18 million for renovations through 2024 and the city estimates the cost of renovating its pools at more than $4 million per pool.
There isn’t enough money to renovate every pool. The College Hill Pool was recently renovated through a public-private partnership with the neighborhood, so the estimated cost of its renovations is much less than the other pools: only $800,000.
It costs the city about 50 cents per swimmer at College Hill, but between $5 or $7 per swimmer at the five pools that will eliminated under all three plans: Boston, McAdams, Orchard, Minisa and Linwood.
The city has been conducting surveys since 2012 about how to move forward. A couple of years ago potential options included a large, $12 million central indoor pool. But since then the city has narrowed its choices to just three options, which include a mix of renovated outdoor pools and water playgrounds.
Water playgrounds at Buffalo Park and in Old Town Square have been a big success, according to Houtman.
“I’ve seen adults play in them,” Houtman said. “They are fun.”
The City Council meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 455 N. Main.
Oliver Morrison: 316-268-6499, @ORMorrison
Where the pools are located
Below is a map of where Wichita’s pools are located. The 1-pool plan is identified with a yellow marker. The 3-pool plan would also keep the red-marked pools. The 5-pool plan would also keep the gray-marked pools.
ATTENDANCE AT WICHITA POOLS SINCE 2010
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | ||||||||||
College Hill | 19,952 | 16,300 | 17,189 | 14,738 | 17,224 | 17,103 | 17,693 | |||||||||
Harvest | 15,508 | 14,662 | 13,569 | 13,341 | 16,321 | 12,807 | 11,837 | |||||||||
Aley | 10,252 | 10,024 | 9,823 | 8,457 | 10,486 | 10,286 | 10,005 | |||||||||
Linwood | 7,690 | 8,007 | 7,636 | 6,957 | 8,291 | 7,499 | 7,343 | |||||||||
Orchard | 6,988 | 8,198 | 7,788 | 6,860 | 8,729 | 8,354 | 8,411 | |||||||||
Evergreen | 5,839 | 5,449 | 6,556 | 4,745 | 3,841 | 4,477 | 5,387 | |||||||||
Minisa | 5,336 | 4,535 | 5,018 | 4,516 | 6,749 | 6,503 | 6,306 | |||||||||
Boston | 4,452 | 4,409 | 3,810 | 4,665 | 5,991 | 3,957 | 4,867 | |||||||||
McAdams | 3,985 | 3,731 | 2,319 | 1,880 | 3,645 | 3,612 | 4,155 | |||||||||
Country Acres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,602 | 3,465 | |||||||||
Edgemoor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,181 | 8,096 | |||||||||
Total | 80,002 | 75,315 | 73,708 | 66,159 | 81,277 | 89,381 | 87,565 | |||||||||
2016 | Attendance | Expenditures | Revenue | Net loss | Cost recovery | Subsidy per attendee |
College Hill Pool | 19,952 | $53,644 | $42,221 | $11,423 | 78.71% | $0.57 |
Harvest Pool | 15,508 | $63,863 | $42,554 | $21,309 | 66.63% | $1.37 |
Aley Pool | 10,252 | $59,279 | $27,450 | $31,829 | 46.30% | $3.10 |
Linwood Pool | 7,690 | $55,352 | $17,152 | $38,200 | 30.99% | $4.97 |
Orchard Pool | 6,988 | $43,951 | $18,199 | $25,752 | 41.41% | $3.69 |
Evergreen Pool | 5,839 | $40,134 | $14,786 | $25,348 | 36.84% | $4.34 |
Minisa Pool | 5,336 | $40,424 | $12,501 | $27,923 | 30.92% | $5.23 |
Boston Pool | 4,452 | $38,699 | $10,337 | $28,362 | 26.71% | $6.37 |
McAdams Pool | 3,985 | $32,136 | $5,867 | $26,269 | 18.26% | $6.59 |
This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Wichita to vote Tuesday on whether to eliminate up to nine pools."