On May 7, the Recreation Department presented a plan to renovate the Piedmont Community Pool to City Council. Recreation Director Sara Lillevand led the presentation and answered questions about the proposed plans.
The Recreation Department already has a conceptual plan in place, approved by the City Council two years ago, Lillevand said.
“Most outdoor pools last less than 50 years, and ours is much older,” Lillevand said. “It has lasted much longer than anyone expected.”
The conceptual plan includes a renovated pool deck with a layout that would allow for more activities. The plan also calls for a two story bath house that would include locker rooms, restrooms, mechanical rooms, and multi-purpose rooms, and would be accessible to tennis players at the tennis court, Lillevand said.
“I am optimistic we can make some immediate repairs and get another couple years of life out of this facility,” Lillevand said. “I want to assure readers that the pool is a busy, vibrant community resource, and the City would not take a decision to close the pool lightly.”
The Recreation Department along with the community have made multiple minor repairs over the past few years, but it is time to address the larger problem, Lillevand said.
“They keep applying a band-aid to a cut that’s still bleeding,” said men’s water polo coach John Savage.
The renovations would address that both the large and medium pools are leaking more water than they should be, Lillevand said.
“The main pool is losing 3,000 gallons of water every day which is ten times the expected daily water loss for a pool that size,” Lillevand said. “The medium pool is also leaking although we have not been able to quantify the daily loss.”
The testing to identify and repair the leak would require destructive testing to empty the pool and break down the sides of the pool, Lillevand said. These repairs would disrupt the neighborhood, cost millions of dollars, and force the pool to close for a significant amount of time.
Knowing the issues and overall state of the current pool, the two options being considered are to either build a new aquatic facility or get rid of the pool completely, Lillevand said.
“Aquatics have grown in Piedmont in both high school sports activity and public use,” Savage said. “The other issue is that there just isn’t enough water space for everyone.”
Since the pool is a community pool, it is open to the public after school, restricting high school teams’ use during the week, Savage said.
“Imagine trying to run a basketball team where you only get the gym for two hours for all four or six programs,” Savage said. “The water polo team has to rent out space at other pools so we can have a functioning practice.”
The men’s and women’s water polo teams switch off practicing at Laney College and the Piedmont Community Pool during the week, said varsity water polo player and senior Carson Gilliland.
“We don’t have the pool, so we have to practice late at night and sometimes have swim sets before school during the week,” Gilliland said.
In addition, the current main pool varies in depth from one side of the pool to the other, causing problems in sports like water polo, Gilliland said.
“There have been numerous efforts to rally the community to build a more modern and efficient pool,” Lillevand said. “Supporters believe the pool has great community value and is an essential part of Piedmont.”
