Analyzing options for an aging aquatic facility replace or renovate

See if this story sounds familiar. You're operating a community swimming pool that, in its heyday, was the centerpiece of summertime activity.

It was the place to be on a hot summer day, with nearly every kid and parent in town diving, splashing, and socializing by the pool. Now, 30 years later, attendance has nearly dried up, and so will the pool if the leaks and cracks can't be patched together for another season. A pool once sparkling and attractive no longer invites the same number of eager patrons. Even if the pool can be salvaged, is it really providing the recreation the community wants?

Scenarios similar to this are being played out all across the country. A boom of community swimming pools accompanied America's rush to the suburbs in the 1950s and '60s, and now these pools are facing their golden years. Most of these facilities are showing their age, while a few have resisted the ravages of time. Regardless, nearly all share the same attendance and draining revenue. What's the best way to turn this tide? The answers vary from case to case. Many communities have successfully modified existing structures and won back significant enthusiasm and attendance. Others have started again from scratch. Deciding which direction is right can be a challenge, but with research, analysis and some educating effort, you can determine whether renovation or replacement is right for your facility.

Hold On to What You've Got

Just because your aquatic facility isn't a teenager anymore doesn't mean it can't have a little pride in how it looks. Just as you exercise and eat wisely (or at least have good intentions) to maintain your health, an ongoing "fitness" program for your swimming pool, deck, bathhouse and mechanical areas will prolong the useful life of the facility. Even little acts of tender loving care--keeping grass and weeds from growing on the deck, caulking seams and repairing cracks, maintaining fresh paint--will not only extend the functional life of the facility, but will encourage attendance by making the facility more appealing. These outcomes will help maximize revenue, and when it comes time to represent your case for changes, you'll be able to show you've done everything possible with the existing facility.

Also, at this time, it will be immensely useful later to have substantive documentation of the current and recent operating history of the facility, so start building a file. Include safety reports, maintenance issues, attendance and revenue. This history will be helpful, again, when it is time to seek the support of civic leaders.

Know Your Customers

Before deciding which direction is right for the future of your community, you should know what the community thinks. Find out what your patrons like and what they don't like. While this can be accomplished through mailed or phone surveys, a more honest response comes from surveying customers in person on the deck. People are less likely to simply complain, and instead, are more likely to respond with an honest and constructive opinion. Appropriate topics for evaluation include staffing, quality of service, cleanliness, water quality, overall appearance, what they like best--and least--about the facility, and what amenities might be added that would make them more likely to attend more often.

Perhaps even more importantly, however, than knowing who your customers are and what they like, is knowing who your customers aren't and why they aren't coming to your pool. This is often a much larger group of potential customers than your active customers. You need to know why people who once came to your pool are no longer attending. Have the demographics changed--has the community aged, lost employers, or experienced a move in population center--or have people simply opted for a different recreational opportunity? You can't make a good business decision about how to improve your facility if you don't know what improvements will draw patrons back.

It isn't as easy to survey people who aren't sitting by the poolside, but it is worth the effort to seek them out. Look through old annual pass records, visit competitive facilities, go to a local mall or other gathering spot and ask people for their opinions and suggestions.

Another beneficial point of view can come from your peers in neighboring communities. Invite P&R managers to visit your facility and share their candid, fresh viewpoints. Often, when you see your pool day in and day out, you become blind to subtle changes that have gradually occurred over years. You may be accustomed to something because it has always been that way, but a fresh set of eyes will help you see ways to improve the facility.

Physical Obsolescence

Physical obsolescence usually means your facility is simply worn out: the shell may be cracked and leaking, deck surfaces are splaying, concrete slabs heaving, recirculation and supply pipes are rusting and leaking, filter systems are malfunctioning, bathhouse roof is leaking, the parking lot is crumbling, light fixtures are broken. These are a few of the many conditions that describe a facility that has lived beyond its useful life. All these things can be repaired, of course, but at what cost, and to what end.

Often, physical obsolescence can occur for reasons other than deterioration, and usually, as a result of changing safety and health codes. Perfectly operational filtration systems can become obsolete as a result of a change in turnover rate requirements. A 10-hour turnover rate was uncommon 30-40 years ago, subsequently standards dropped to 8 hours, and in many states today, a 6-hour turnover rate is preferred.

Pool shells that are tight as a drum have become obsolete because of changing safety requirements for water depth below starting blocks and diving boards. Acceptable water depths under starting blocks used to be 3-1/2 to 4 ft. when many of the nations pools were built in the '50s. Today, in the states of Texas and Michigan, 6-ft. depths or greater are required, standards which will maybe adopted by other states and which could become the standard for future designs. Diving wells, hopper design and board configuration are also experiencing new safety codes to further minimize risk of cervical injury and impact with the pool bottom. Even bathhouses and entryways have become physically obsolete as a result of new health and safety codes.

Safe lighting levels, GFI protection and other electrical requirements have also changed with updated codes over the years. Again, all these things can be fixed, repaired, or replaced; but at what cost, and to what end.

Functional Obsolescence

It is possible--and undoubtedly has been done--to build a brand new swimming pool that is still obsolete. "Insanity," someone has said, "is the process of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." You can build a new rectangular swimming pool with a 10-ft. deck surrounded by chain link fence; but unless your study of your community has revealed this to be their wish, then you shouldn't expect any significant improvement in attendance and revenue. Your pool will be physically perfect, but may, on opening day, be functionally obsolete.

Attendance erosion and revenue decline, resulting in increased subsidy, are all indicators of functional obsolescence. Recreation is a perishable commodity and needs to continually be refreshed to maintain its popularity. If patrons no longer find it fun to use your facility, if it is no longer attractive to the market compared to other recreational opportunities, people will stop coming.

Functional obsolescence might begin with the static, rectangular body of water, but it can also implicate the narrow deck, the entrance through the bathrooms and showers, the isolated kiddy pool and the chain link fence with the picnic area on the other side. Today, the expectations for aquatic recreation in most communities include zero-beach entry to shallow free-formed bodies of water featuring slides, participatory play features, current rivers and bubble benches. Wide, inviting decks provide ample opportunity for socializing in sun or shade, with grassy areas, trees, shrubs and flowers that give the facility a park-like environment and push back fences to the point of near invisibility.

Customers' expectations can also lead to functional obsolescence of your entrance and bathhouse. People don't expect to be led through the bathrooms anymore on the way to the pool area. They also look for diaper changing areas, family changing rooms, and more fixtures than what was provided in facilities built 30 years ago. In some cases, changing health codes spark issues of physical obsolescence. But whether they are demanded by code or expected by customers, obsolescence is the result.

Mechanical systems, too, can be functionally obsolete from the operator's point of view. Older manual systems may get the job done, but automated systems available today make it much easier to accurately and efficiently monitor water quality and perform other maintenance procedures. Continuous monitors sample water every few seconds, automatically and immediately making system adjustments to minimize problems and maximize safety. If something gets out of whack, the systems can even contact the operator by pager or phone. They can even backwash themselves. The lack of these features might not make for physical obsolescence, but in an environment where saving labor costs and maximizing efficient use of energy and materials is preferred, it can make a facility functionally obsolete.

Renovate or Replace

Finding out what your community wants and accurately accessing the degree to which your facility provides for patrons are the first steps toward reviving your community aquatics program. Weighing the different options available to you is the next step. Of course, maintaining the status quo is one option, but is doubtful for providing any turn of fortunes.

So, for many people, renovation and replacement are the real choices. The seductive excitement of building a brand new state-of-the-art aquatic center usually gets first review, but budgeting concerns quickly send designers back to the drawing boards. In these cases, the opportunities for vast improvements through renovation of an existing facility shouldn't be underestimated. "Supersizing" an existing facility can create dramatic improvements in its recreational value, and significantly increase attendance and revenues.

D. Scot Hunsaker's responsibilities as president of Counsilman/Hunsaker & Associates and president of Community Recreation Systems have demanded that he constantly research and review the ever-changing trends in the recreation and sport industry. A 1986 graduate of Indiana University School of Business, Hunsaker has been with Counsilman/Hunsaker & Associates since 1990. An active participant in industry associations, Hunsaker has served on the editorial committee for the Official Swimming Pool Design Compendium for competition swimming and diving, and as past president of the National Swim and Recreation Association. His article, "Replace or Renovate: Analyzing Options for an Aging Aquatic Facility" appears on page 80.

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