http://explorehoward.com/news/10109/county-prodded-ponder-building-olympic-size-pool/

 

[PHOTO]

Ellicott City resident Michael Jacobson enrolled his sons, Aaron, 11, left, and Adam, 8, in the Retrievers swim team at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County because the school’s Olympic-size swimming pool is the nearest one to his home. Jacobson has called for Howard to build a pool suitable for fitness and competition swimming. (staff photo by Nicole Martyn)

County prodded to ponder building Olympic-size pool

By Jennifer Broadwater
jbroadwater@patuxent.com

Posted 7/17/08

 

 

Ellicott City resident Michael Jacobson has spent a good deal of his life in water.

The lifelong swimmer grew up in Northern Virginia, where he swam competitively for his high school and earned a scholarship to swim for North Carolina State University.

So, shortly after moving to Ellicott City in 1995, he sought a public pool but couldn't find one.

"I called up the county to ask where I could swim," he recalled.

He was told the county operates a single 25-meter outdoor pool in Ellicott City, at the Roger Carter Recreation Center, but that it was not yet open for the season.

"When I moved up here I was kind of shocked," he said. "I considered this a premier county."

Jacobson has enrolled his sons, Aaron, 11; and Adam, 8, in the Retrievers youth swimming program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in Catonsville, because the college's facility is the nearest 50-meter Olympic-size pool to his home, he said.

Jacobson is among the residents who want the county government to build and operate a pool suited to the needs of those who swim for fitness and competition.

Others have petitioned the county for a warm-water therapy pool for senior citizens, while still others would like access to a county-owned leisure pool.

The county's Department of Recreation and Parks is in the midst of studying whether the county should build a pool. County Executive Kenneth Ulman ordered the study in 2007, after residents asked him to fund a swim facility during public hearings on the county budget.

Some residents told Ulman that they believe the demand for a public pool is large enough that admission and rental fees would help cover its operating costs.

Howard Community College, the Columbia Association, the YMCA and private fitness centers operate pools in the county, though none are 50-meter Olympic-size pools -- the standard for long-course swimming events.

Feasibility study under way

In mid-June, the county's Department of Recreation and Parks reviewed an "aquatic development plan" prepared by St. Louis, Mo.-based Counsilman-Hunsaker, a swimming pool design consultant.

The plan outlines four options, including: an outdoor leisure pool; an indoor 50-meter competition pool; a facility that includes indoor and outdoor components, and includes a leisure pool and an eight-lane lap pool; an outdoor leisure pool with a six-lane lap pool and diving well.

The consultant will next produce a more detailed feasibility study which likely will be released in September, said Gary Arthur, director of the recreation department, adding that the studies do not necessarily mean that county officials will build a pool, or can afford to build one.

"What we're looking to come out of this is probably a plan that will give the county direction over the next five years," he said. "All of that will be based on our financial resources."

The consultant has told officials that an outdoor leisure pool would be the most cost effective option because it would operate only during the summer's peak demand, whereas an indoor pool would require staff and other operating costs year round and potentially only draw swimmers in the early morning and late afternoon, Arthur said.

The recreation and parks advisory board, which advises officials on recreational matters, likely will make a recommendation to Ulman on the matter in October, after reviewing the feasibility study and meeting with the Howard County Revenue Authority, which finances revenue-producing projects, Arthur added.

In 2005, Columbia resident Andy Lazris led an effort to petition the county's Board of Education to make swimming a varsity sport in high schools. Officials nixed the effort due to concerns over a lack of dedicated space for practices and meets, and funding.

A county-run Olympic-size pool could help make varsity swimming a reality, while also providing exercise space for the county's growing senior citizen population, said Lazris, who is a geriatric physician.

"One big pool like that would provide so much versatility," he added.