Point Counter Point
Topic: City support for community swimming pool
The nonprofit Sonoma Valley Health and Recreation Association has proposed a multi-use aquatic facility, a “Community Pool,” on the six-acre El Verano Avenue property known as Paul’s Resort. To secure the $1.7 million parcel, step one of the $10-$12 million project, the SVHRA has asked the City of Sonoma for a long-term loan or donation of $500,000.
Sonoma needs, deserves community pool
Water is powerful. In the depth this historic drought, we see constant reminders of the power of water or the lack thereof. The earliest civilizations formed where there was access to fresh water and we have been congregating around water ever since. But after thirsts are quenched and crops are irrigated, the power of water is easily overlooked. All too often the results are tragic.
According to the Center for Disease Control drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death for children under 14 in the United States; behind only car accidents. In all, 10 people die each day of drowning in the U.S. and minorities are at the greatest risk. The good news is, of all of life’s danger, drowning may be one of the easiest to prevent. The key to preventing these tragedies is access to community aquatic facilities and the availability of learn-to-swim classes and other drowning prevention programs.
While the solution seems simple, the residents of Sonoma Valley have been without access to a community swimming pool for nearly a decade ago. Since then many bright minds have worked to solve this problem and figure out how to build a true community access aquatics facility in Sonoma. By expanding on the foundation laid by previous efforts and incorporating new ideas, Sonoma Valley Health and Recreation Association, a 501c3 nonprofit, is closer to accomplishing this goal than ever before.
SVHRA is in contract to purchase the former site of Paul’s Resort, an ideal location just across Verano Avenue from Maxwell Park, to develop an aquatic facility dubbed “Sonoma Splash.” In total, Sonoma Splash will cost between $10 and $12 million. This will allow us to build the type of facility our advisors at U.S. Swimming recommend. With this facility, we can execute our business plan that will keep the pool full and our revenue above our operating expenses.
We have been fundraising furiously all summer and are approaching our goal needed to close escrow. While focusing on private donations and grassroots fundraising (donate online at SonomaSplash.com) we are pursuing all avenues of financing including a $500,000 loan from the city of Sonoma. Though it represents just five percent or less of the total project cost, this loan will be an important piece of our early fundraising efforts. It will serve as a symbol of the support in the community for a pool as we seek grants, corporate contributions and private donors. More so, it recognizes the importance of drowning prevention.
Most importantly Sonoma Splash, with the support of the City of Sonoma and the entire Valley, will be a testament to the power of water. Just as the first human communities came together at a source of fresh water, Sonoma Splash will be a place for this community to come together regardless of race, socioeconomic status or even swimming ability. Memories will be made, skills will be developed and lives will be saved. Sonoma Splash will be the fresh water where this community grows.
For more information about Sonoma Splash, the proposed facility and business plan or to join our mailing list, please visit SonomaSplash.com.
Sam Coturri
Sonoma Valley Health & Recreation Association, Board Treasurer
Pool not a priority investment
Who can argue against a community swimming pool? If one believes its cheerleaders, including a Sonoma newspaper and two sitting councilmembers, everyone thinks it’s a grand idea. I think it’s a grand idea. And that’s the problem: Considering other important needs and problems facing the city, it may be Too Grand.
There are arguably things more important to city residents than a pool, which apparently needs a half-million dollars in city money just to become a reality. Managing taxpayer money requires asking, “What better uses might be made of $500,000 to benefit city residents?”
How about Affordable city housing? Or, traffic and public safety improvements to relieve soon-to-be intolerable congestion, and accommodate tax-generating in-town development including the hotel coming to the Plaza and another soon on Broadway?
What about investing in more public wells and water storage capacity, to hedge the city’s water supply against the worst drought on record?
The list goes on.
At present, a community pool, however desirable and delightful, is a luxury impulse-buy, animated by the sudden availability of an ideal place to build it. That becomes apparent in light of yet-unanswered questions about the realities of operating and maintaining a financially viable pool.
The Splash website (Sonomasplash.com) cites a 2012 survey in which supposedly 60 percent of respondents said they’d use the pool “without any knowledge of what that facility might entail.” Why doesn’t Splash tell the public what running a financially viable pool entails, or at least release the survey questions and responses? That might be important, since the website notes that an earlier attempt to put the pool to a public vote failed to garner even enough signatures to qualify it for the ballot.
While pool advocates wax nostalgic about the joys and benefits of swimming, they offer no realistic answers to questions any prudent banker or investor might have, e.g.:
•Where are the architect’s plans for the pool?
•What are the projected annual operating and maintenance expenses?
•What, and how large, are the pool’s geographic and demographic markets?
•Are markets projected to grow or shrink? Based on what data?
•What is the plan to promote pool use?
•What data indicates the number of people realistically likely to regularly use the pool?
•How many users will have to be subsidized, by whom and by how much?
•How often would people use it and what would they be willing to pay?
•What share of revenue would be needed, respectively, from long-term memberships, leases and single-use fees?
•What potential lessees, if any, have actually committed to lease the pool?
•What is the annual break-even attendance/use? At what point in the fiscal year would that be achieved?
•What specific and realistic revenue-producing events and programs are planned to supplement user fees?
•What foreseeable risks – e.g., cold weather, water rationing, competitive moves by private pools — might depress revenue and what are the contingency plans to address them?
•If wealthy private donors are willing to buy the land and build a pool, why is city taxpayer money needed?
The answers are important, for if the pool becomes a money pit, its promoters will likely be back asking the city for a bail out. On the other hand, if the pool is financially viable, the city’s loan would not require a guarantor and the city should expect to be repaid in full, in cash.
To date, the promoters’ only plan seems to be “Build It and They Will Come,” or what Councilmember Cook accurately described as “a leap of faith.” Not a great business model with a $12 million investment, and ongoing expenses, on the line.
Bob Edwards
