2018-08-15-CCPAC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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4. LexSwim Presentation Mark Anderson, representing the informal advocacy group "LexSwim" shared a presentation highlighting the benefits of a year-round swim facility for the residents of Lexington,followed by a question and answer session. Please see the attached slide presentation. Ms. Shepard asked how much time Lexington swim teams are needing,to which Mr. Anderson reported that Lexington has one of the largest teams in the area•,there are cuts. Their season is 1/3 of the academic calendar,for which they need a pool 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. He added that given the size of the High School, a JV team is warranted. The private teams are year-round programs and have even more demand. Those teams currently use the Minuteman pool as well, adding to the overcrowding. The High School team does not provide any diving time or instruction,but it is a swim and dive team so divers need to find practice time and space on their own. Ms. Shepard asked for the proposed closing date of the Minuteman pool. Mr. Anderson stated that they will be close the pool next fall. He added that all of the teams are shopping the area right now to look for alternate space. Ms. Shepard stated that it doesn't seem realistic to have a Lexington-based pool in place in time for the closure next year. Mr. Anderson agreed and confirmed that they are looking at a strategy over the next 5 - 8 years. Sandra Shaw suggested that the real costs of building a pool are not capital, it is the operating costs. She feels that we should be looking at the surrounding areas for options as Lexington does not have the capital or the land for a pool facility. Mr. Anderson shared an idea of building a pool on the Minuteman property to solve the land question. On the operating side, Concord reports that they are losing money, despite being given a pool. This is a result of charging themselves a$400K depreciation rate each year. Brookline reports to break even on operating cost. He added that even if a private pool moves forward, this process would be still be advantageous to identify the swimming needs of the community. Alessandro Alessandrini asked, if we do have a pool on the Minuteman land,who will have ownership of the facility, to which Mr. Lucente replied that the Town is in the early stages of working with Minuteman to answer that question. Pat Costello,TMM, stated that it would be appropriate to bring Minuteman in to share their ideas for what they would like to see going forward. She continued on to advocate for the Circuit Breaker tax credit. Francesca Pfrommer thanked the LexSwim group for collecting data on the broad population of Lexington. She added that information about how and where they swim would be really important data. The operating costs are not insignificant at all. Many pools have other facilities to underwrite their costs. A multi-town collaborative could be an interesting way to share the costs as well as provide a quality facility. Mr. Alessandrini agreed that having a multi-district complex would be a way to share the costs and benefits. Mr. Anderson added that there are not a lot of increased costs when you add an additional pool to a complex. Mr. Alessandrini said it is not just about a pool,but field interests, gym space, etc. -having a joint interest will help things move forward 5. Expansion and Capital Planning Christine Dean proposed to the Committee the plan by the Recreation Committee to ask for money at Town Meeting to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment. The community was polled and data was collected before the current building was purchased. Now that we have this facility it is important to re-evaluate and look at what needs are not being met. Ms. Shepard asked for the timeframe of such a study,to which Ms. Dean replied 6- 12 months.