Make Your Voice Heard – Help Design Our New Pool
Many of you asked about the plans for the new swim center at Heather Farm and how you can ensure that the new swim center is what you hope for. Even if you attended the community meetings in the fall or completed the City’s survey, we need each of you to make your voice heard! Please plan to attend one or both of the public presentations on the latest proposed design on:
- February 5, Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Meeting at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall
- March 5, City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall
When the WCAF entered into a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to fundraise $3 million for the new Swim Center, the City agreed that the swim center would “accommodate the existing and long-term needs of the three swim teams as well as other programming and user groups.”
The proposed two pool design of one recreational pool with 6 lap lanes attached + one multi-use 50 meter pool falls short, reducing the pool space and functionality of the swim center to less than we have now, much less than what we had when this facility was built in 1970, and less than what the community wants and needs for the future. Further, the three swim teams who rent pool space at the swim center year round would be negatively impacted and do not support the proposed design.
The WCAF asks that the proposed design be rejected and replaced with a design that would return the swim center to what it was when it opened in 1970. We are asking for:
- A 52-Meter Competition Pool With Bulkhead that meets modern competition standards which would allow this facility to once again host revenue-generating meets such as Junior Olympics and Water Polo Championships that can no longer be held there because of changing standards for pool depth and facilities. This pool which is just 2 meters longer than the proposed design and a bit deeper would better accommodate day to day usage for lap swimmers, exercisers, and teams.
- A Multi-Use Recreation Pool With Recreational Features and 10 lanes (6 of them with deep water). Adding just four more lanes and making some deeper would allow ample space for play, lessons, lap swim, aquatic exercise, and offset loss of lanes as facility goes from three to two pools.
You can view a more detailed comparison of the past and present pool capabilities along with a comparison of the City’s proposed design and the WCAF’s proposal here.
Please let the City know what you want in a new swim center and why.
- Please let them know you support the WCAF proposal.
- Please let them know about you, your connection to the pools at Heather Farm (did you learn to swim there, swim there growing up, compete there in the past, train to be a lifeguard, work there, swim there now, would swim there if it were different)
Make your voice heard by attending one of the upcoming public meetings during which a proposed design for the swim center will be presented. The agendas for public meetings are posted the Friday before the scheduled meeting. If you can’t make a public comment in person, please submit your comment to PublicComments@walnut-creek.org, preferably by the afternoon of the meeting so it will be part of the official record for the meeting. Please tell your friends and family to do the same! Click here to learn more about submitting or making a public comment.
We thank you for doing your part to make the future of aquatics in Walnut Creek great!
In partnership,
The Walnut Creek Aquatic Foundation Board