With its manager in place, staff being hired and construction
progressing, Morgan Hill
’s Aquatics Complex is beginning to take shape.
With its manager in place, staff being hired and construction progressing, Morgan Hill’s Aquatics Complex is beginning to take shape.
The much-anticipated $12.9 million facility, located on Condit Road between Tennant and Dunne avenues, is slated for a Memorial Day weekend ‘soft’ opening and a June 12 grand opening.
The complex will include a 50-meter competitive pool, a 25-yard instructional pool, a recreational pool with spray ground and slides, locker rooms, first aid and event/instructional rooms and concessions. The complex sits across a parking lot from a wide, green expanse of soccer fields that are slated to become part of a sports complex including the aquatics facility.
According to new City Recreation Supervisor Aaron Himelson, brought on board in January to run the facility, the aquatics complex will offer a range of services to a diverse clientele, from competitive swimmers to recreational swimmers and from youngsters taking swim lessons to seniors swimming laps.
Himelson said such versatility will be essential to making the facility accessible to the entire community and to meeting the facility’s 100-percent operating cost-recovery goal.
“We want to create an environment with our programming where we can draw as many different segments of the community as possible,” Himelson said. “We want to achieve a balance, we want to accommodate both the competitive swim community and the rest of the community. We need to create an atmosphere that is welcoming to many different groups.”
Himelson said specific programming is still being developed but will likely include: a range of private and group swim lessons to accommodate a range of ages; junior lifeguards; day camps; water aerobics; day use and recreational swim times; competitive swim practice and events; SCUBA and kayak lessons; CPR classes in the event/instructional rooms; and even yoga classes on the complex’s lawns.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy said the aquatics complex has been one of the council’s top priorities ever since community members identified it as such during the city’s visioning process in the mid-1990s.
Kennedy said Morgan Hill’s storied history of producing top-notch swimmers and water polo players and programs played a part in that, along with the need for more recreational facilities.
“One of the strongest requests from the community when we did the visioning process was for more recreational facilities and more pools,” Kennedy said. “We’ve really been hurting, over recent years especially, from not having enough facilities for the swimming community and the water polo players.”
Kennedy also said it is important for the aquatics complex to live up to its promise to meet the needs of the entire community, as well as to accomplish its goal of being self-sustaining.
“There is the potential for many uses, but it’s important that the facility be primarily available to the community,” he said. “Self-sufficiency is very important in today’s economic environment. And, it will be an attraction. It could host regional swim meets, which would be a plus for our restaurants, hotels and local businesses. Morgan Hill, with its sunny weather, is an ideal location.”
According to Himelson, the aquatics complex is well-designed to accommodate such a wide variety of uses and the associated groups. For one thing, he said, the different pool areas can be separated to allow for simultaneous use of the facility by diverse groups.
“”They’ve done a really nice job with the design of the facility so that we can meet multiple different needs and meet the need to attract multiple groups and interests,” he said. “There’s a wind barrier between the 50-meter pool and the recreational side of the facility so we can run meets and not affect the recreational side. There’s a separate set of locker rooms for competitive and recreational uses. It really takes into consideration with its design the different needs of the user groups. It’s well-designed for that where, in many cases, (some aquatics centers are) not.”
Himelson said he knows how important accommodating a wide range of users is for such a facility, not only for good public relations but also for a solid bottom line. The 37-year-old Himelson was hired specifically because of his fiscal acumen and experience. While at the Monterey Sports Center, where he was aquatics coordinator for the past four years, he developed the revenue-generating portion of the programming (primarily through private swim lessons) from $2,500 to $60,000 annually.
Himelson also brings a versatile background to the position. He spent 14 years in competitive swimming and water polo while growing up in Orange County. He also has swimming and water polo coaching experience, he is a licensed paramedic, a certified pool operator, and Red Cross and lifeguard instructor. Himelson, who attended Saddleback College in Southern California and St. Mary’s College in Moraga, worked as the Truckee Recreation Department’s aquatics coordinator in the 1990s before accepting the job in Monterey.
Because the local facility is expected to be self-supporting, it is not being planned as a year-round facility. Instead, the city’s recreation department will concentrate on offering the facility’s full range of services during the core “summer” months from May through September or as long as its revenue can support its operations. As its revenue drops off, the facility will begin shutting down its services, beginning with the 50-meter competitive pool, until it is completely closed.
The Aquatics Complex’s projected budget for 2004-05 is about $921,000, and projected attendance over a 16-week “core” season will be about 4,125 people per week.
Although an open-hours plan is still being developed, Himelson said the complex will likely be open from about 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., with lap swimming in the mornings and evenings, rec swimming from about 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and lessons focused on mornings and evenings.
Meanwhile, the Morgan Hill Aquatics Foundation will begin taking over operations of the 50-meter competitive pool during several months of the year (probably from about March through November) that are not being covered by the city’s recreation department. The Aquatics Foundation will be solely responsible for the facility’s operations during those months. The facility will be completely closed during the winter months.
John Rick, a member of the Aquatics Foundation and a competitive swimmer, said the not-for-profit foundation is dedicated to keeping the facility open and available to the community for as long as possible. He said he thinks the facility will be in year-round operation before too long.
“Our sole objective and mission is to help the city keep the facility open for as long during the year for as many people as possible,” Rick said. “I think there will be a one-year to two-year ramp-up period, followed by year-round use.”
Himelson said he believes it will only be a matter of time before the new facility is “packed” because of the support for swim programs in the community. He said he believes the facility will blend nicely with other new swimming venues in the community, including a new indoor pool (in the proposed indoor recreation center) and the Live Oak High pool, because it occupies a different niche.
“With the limited facilities in this community, they’ve done an incredible job developing programs and there’s been a tremendous amount of support,” he said. “There is tremendous potential for programs with adequate facilities. There are still many segments of the community whose needs are not yet being met. The summer weather alone will keep the facility packed. In two to three years’ time, these facilities will probably be packed for most of the year.”
To help keep the facility open in the so-called “off months,” the Aquatics Foundation is undertaking a fundraising campaign that includes commemorative brick sales and an upcoming brew festival.
The Cool Pools Brew Festival will be held on July 24, at the Morgan Hill Cultural Center Amphitheater and will include live music, food and 20 microbreweries.
Meanwhile, the city’s Recreation Department is busy hiring staff for the Aquatics Complex, including new Recreation Coordinator Teresa Magno, who will be in charge of the day-to-day operation of the complex’s programs. The rec department also recently held a Job Fair for prospective lifeguards and other swim complex employees.
The June 12 grand opening will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and include a ribbon-cutting, speeches, food and perhaps tours of the facility. The facility won’t be open for swimming during the ceremony but will open at noon for full use.
According to Recreation Community Services Manager Julie Spier, season passes are now on sale and a registration fair will be held on April 24 at the Community Center. Details: 782-0008.
Spier said the complex’s concessions will be handled by the recreation department with start-up help from a private contractor.
Ticket packages to a summer of aquatic fun are now on sale. Credit cards will be accepted for the season passes. Phone 782-0008 or visit the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center at the corner of Monterey Road and Dunne Avenue.
