The Visalia City Council expressed interest in moving ahead to develop an aquatic complex in the city at the Oct. 20 meeting.
However, city council members acknowledged they will first need to make some important decisions about the project, including its location, features and funding.
If the current interest leads to an aquatic center in Visalia, it would not be the city’s first pool. The first one was a natatorium (indoor) public pool built in 1896, according to Visalia Parks and Recreation Director Jason Glick.
“It was on the northeast corner of Main and Santa Fe,” Glick said. “It was fed by water from the city’s waterworks plant. It featured two springboards and a suspended trapeze.”
In 1939, there was a pool called “The Plunge” at the southeast corner of the Acequia and Bridge, he said. “In 1955, the city built the recreation pool. It was demoed in 1986. This pool was home to the Redwood High School Aquatics teams and the Visalia Parks and Recreation Department.”
Previous aquatic studies
In 2006-2007, there was an aquatic facility ad hoc committee formed, according to Glick.
“They wanted to hire a consultant to refine plans for an aquatic center at several different potential sites in the community,” he said. “The study would have provided estimated costs to construct a new aquatic center and the costs to maintain and subsidize the facility. Ultimately, the study was not funded.”
A Visalia Parks and Recreation Commission aquatic center study was conducted in 2018-2019. An independent group requested $40,000 to hire a consultant to create a preliminary design.
“Council approved the funds and directed the group to work with the Parks and Recreation Commission and report back at a later date,” Glick said.
The 2018-2019 study included a 22-question survey, conducted in English and Spanish, both online and in-person. A total of 439 responses were received.
The survey indicated that an area for swim lessons was seen as the top need, followed in order by a locker room with showers, a cool water aerobics pool, an area for water fitness classes, a recreation-type pool with water slides, a play area, a snack bar, a shallow area for tiny tot play, diving boards, a 50-meter competitive pool, a warm water therapy pool, a 35-meter recreation pool, a land area with outdoor exercise equipment and a hot tub.
The 2018-2019 effort to build an aquatics facility in Visalia failed, as did an effort led by former Mayor Greg Collins in 2022. By a 3-2 vote, the council decided not to put the aquatic proposal on an agenda, concerned that other entities might not participate in the funding of the project.
As part of the current effort, the Aquatic Design Group provided data to the city that projected 2025 cost estimates for an outdoor competition pool was $15-$25 million, while an indoor competition pool would be $25-$35 million. The total for outdoor competition and recreation pools was estimated at $20-$25 million, while the pools would cost between $30 and $40 million if indoors.
Operational costs were estimated to range from $305,000 for a 25-yard by 25-meter pool, to $600,000 for a 25-yard by 50-meter pool.
Comments and questions
Collins suggested at the work session that the city “proceed ahead with a two-pool complex. That’ll be the best facility for the most number of people, and with a shallow zero-entry pool, that’ll be your revenue generator.”
“With regard to competition, I’m a member of the water polo community here, and there’s one aspect of revenues that nobody has mentioned, and that’s when you have an aquatic event, it brings in hotel revenue, it brings in restaurant revenue,” said David Alberstein, who presented the 2018 aquatic center proposal to the city council.
“We travel up and down the state all the time and see these amazing facilities, and it’s an ongoing conversation that we would use and create profit from a 50-meter pool in this community,” agreed Ally Briano, head swimming coach at COS.
“What we don’t look at is the number of drownings that we have in our region, and underserved community members that don’t have the luxury of having a pool, or the luxury of having the funding to be able to get private swim lessons,” said Lisa Walsh, chair of the Visalia Parks and Recreation Foundation.
Visalia Marriott General Manager Carrie Groover, spoke on behalf of the Visalia Tourism Marketing District.
“We’re here to express our strong support for this concept and, of course, the competition for the products that the facility would bring to Visalia,” Groover said. “This would allow us to host swim meets, water polo, and diving events drawing athletes, families, and fans from across the state. These are the kinds of events that we look for as a tourism marketing district to get heads in beds and bring dollars to our community.”
After receiving public comments, each city council member shared their opinions on whether to build a recreation pool or a competition pool first, and where the complex should be located.
“An easy answer for location is the East Side Regional Park, but that’s not centrally located,” Councilman Steve Nelsen said. “If you look at property centrally located, it’s going to add cost to the pool, so I think those are questions that need to be answered.”
Mayor Brett Taylor had questions regarding funding.
“Are we talking about some potential park funding that we might have? Are we going to fund this with general funding? Are we going to go out and ask the city to do a special tax for this,” he asked.
City Manager Leslie Caviglia said that her staff had a “general direction” to move forward.
“It looks like you guys have a lot of work to do, so thank you,” Taylor said to city staff as he ended the discussion. “We’re putting this forward, and hopefully we can make something happen here in the near future.”
