McAdams pool closure a front topic of city budget hearing

Closure of the pool at McAdams Park in northeast Wichita drove discussion at the city’s first budget hearing.

And Wichita City Council members appeared divided about the advice they received.

The city closed the McAdams pool earlier this year and plans to close several others, eventually leaving only three. The McAdams pool could be replaced by a splash park, a water play area that is not deep enough for swimming.

Susan Osborne, a former planning commission member, said splash pads and other water features “are not a replacement for swimming pools in other cities.”

“They are an addition to swimming pools,” Osborne said. “Other communities are adding or maintaining, not reducing, despite budget constraints.”

State Rep. Elizabeth Bishop, D-Wichita, said three pools are inadequate for “a city of this size.”

“Pool closings are a blow for neighborhoods,” Bishop said. “It reduces the quality of life…You can’t learn to swim on a splash pad.”

Before the hearing, other residents also spoke in favor of re-opening the pool.

“We have a desire for the city to have…safer areas for recreation and for family involvement,” said Rev. Titus James Sr. “We are pledging to bring activities, programming and hopefully more resources into McAdams Park as we see the pool reopened. … I’m here to say, ‘Work with us.’”

Council member Janet Miller suggested using money slated to be used to rebuild Harvest Pool in 2021 to rebuild the McAdams pool instead.

“Four years is better than never,” she said. “Four years is time to do some planning, to arrange for the programming you all have talked about.”

Council member Bryan Frye said Harvest Pool could need major repairs by 2021, adding that following the city’s aquatics master plan was not “a sudden discussion.”

“It’s time to start thinking creatively, maybe other public-private partnerships, to address our long-term sustainability,” he said. “We have time to work on those solutions.”

“I don’t think we, at McAdams, had the opportunity of the time to create a solution,” council member Lavonta Williams responded. “There was no opportunity for us to work creatively together.”

Mayor Jeff Longwell called it a difficult conversation.

“We’re trying to live within our means and not raise taxes on people that we hear from in large numbers that are frustrated with government spending money.”

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "McAdams pool closure a front topic of city budget hearing."