Slides, a lazy river, new lap pool. Lexington pool could get $10 million overhaul
Lexington is considering a proposal to spend $10 million to turn the Shillito Pool off of Reynolds Road into a regional aquatics center with popular amenities, including slides, a lazy river, a new lap pool, a shallow-water pool for small kids and a warm water pool for seniors.
The proposal to turn Shillito into an aquatics center with more features was first proposed in a 2016 parks pool master plan.
However, the price tag kept the city from moving forward on the project.
The city, however, has a little more than $114 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to allocate over the next two years. The city can use that money on various park projects.
Monica Conrad, the city’s director of parks and recreation, told the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council during a Tuesday work session that Shillito was picked as a possible site for a regional aquatics center because the current pool, which is a lap pool, has plenty of land on all sides for a possible expansion.
Roughly 90 percent of the city’s residents live within a 20-minute drive of Shillito. It’s also on the city’s bus system, making it easier for people to get to.
Conrad said Shillito currently operates at a loss of $151,000 a year. It generates $54,982 a year but costs more than $260,000 a year to operate. Attendance is also lower at Shillito than at the city’s other aquatic centers — Southland, Woodland and Tates Creek.
In 2019, attendance at Shillito was 14,473.
If the city upgraded the facility and added more amenities, Shillito will attract more swimmers, the 2016 master plan concluded.
Still, the pool would still operate at a loss. All Lexington pools operate at a loss.
Could COVID rescue plan aid pay for pool upgrade?
After the upgrades are completed, the pool would generate $460,000, but expenses would also increase to $480,000, creating a $20,000 loss, Conrad said.
Councilwoman Whitney Elliott Baxter, whose district includes the Shillito Pool, said an upgraded pool with more amenities would be welcomed on the city’s south side.
Councilwoman Amanda Bledsoe, who participated in crafting the 2016 aquatics master plan, said one of the goals of the plan was to create more profitable aquatic centers and close smaller neighborhood pools that have high overhead costs, low attendance and higher revenue losses.
Would the city have to close a neighborhood pool to build a new aquatics center?
The city closed Picadome pool two years ago, cutting some costs, Conrad said.
Conrad said she is not proposing closing any other neighborhood pool.
Conrad said Tuesday she is also not proposing a funding source. The council is currently deliberating how to spend the $114 million in American Rescue Plan Act money.
Bledsoe and others said many competitive swim teams no longer have an indoor practice facility. To put a bubble or dome on Shillito Pool, so people can use it year-round, would be ideal.
Conrad and others said that enclosing or doming the pool would be very costly. An estimate on how much that would cost was not released Tuesday. Overhead expenses for indoor pools are also very costly. That’s why so many are closing, city officials have previously said.
But Bledsoe said there are possibilities for public-private partnerships, including selling naming rights to cover or dome the pool. Given the number of competitive swim teams in the area, “ I think there would be money to do it.”
Mayor Linda Gorton has also proposed building a new $10 million senior and therapeutic recreation center on land adjacent to the pool. Gorton has said she would prefer to use savings from the current-year budget to pay for the new center, which would allow the city’s therapeutic recreation programs for adults and teens with disabilities to be housed in one location. The new building would also allow for additional group exercise and other programming spaces for senior programs. The current senior center in Idle Hour Park has waitlists for many of its classes.
The council is expected to continue its deliberations on how to spend American Rescue Plan Act money on Thursday.
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