By Evan MacDonald/emacdonald@wickedlocal.com
For years, residents and student-athletes have been interested in a community pool. One group of residents is trying to make that idea a reality.
For years, residents and student-athletes have been interested in a community pool.
One group of residents is trying to make that idea a reality.
Local residents have formed a working group known as Swim Winchester to develop a formal plan to build a six-to-eight-lane pool at Winchester High School. The project would not be part of a town’s renovation and expansion of the high school; the idea is that both projects could develop at the same time, said resident and Swim Winchester organizer Catherine Curtis.
“We’ve had a lot of coordination with the [high school project] architects,” Curtis said. “At this point, there are so many variables that we’re not sure if developing them at the same time will be possible. But it would be ideal.”
It’s unclear how much a pool project could cost, but it’s likely going to be in the range of $10 million, Curtis said. Swim Winchester is currently applying to become a 501(c)(3) charity organization to accept tax-free donations for the project.
The project must be separate from the WHS project because of funding. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will not fund a swimming pool, said Dan Collins, a spokesman for the MSBA. A new pool cannot even be in contact with the proposed new high school building.
Swim Winchester’s primary goal is to create a facility that would benefit the town without burdening the town, Curtis said. To ensure that, the group is considering doing a feasibility study for the project to evaluate how self-sustaining a facility could be. Swim Winchester has received two feasibility study bids and will evaluate them at its next meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 25, Curtis said.
“We want to make sure it’s a pool that won’t be any sort of drain on the town,” Curtis said. “The town would own the facility, but it would be a self-operating pool.”
The pool would be a separate building on the high school site, likely located between the gymnasium and the railroad tracks. The space was identified as an ideal location in architectural drawings from the 1960s, during the planning of the current WHS building.
The facility could serve as a practice space for Winchester High School’s swim teams, which currently practice at the Woburn Boys and Girls Club.
Rick Menard, the coach of the boys’ swim team at WHS, said having a community pool would be beneficial to athletes. Winchester athletes use the Boys and Girls Club pool in Woburn multiple times per week at 5 a.m., and the pool isn’t deep enough on one side to do a flip-turn, Menard said. Additionally, WHS is unable to host swim meets, so the school’s athletes might have five meets per year while other schools have more than a dozen, he said.
“It’s tough to try to invite ourselves to other peoples’ pools, because they have to incur the costs of hosting the meet,” Menard said. “It doesn’t help our kids, because they have fewer opportunities.”
Menard also noted that Winchester swimmers because could train year round if the town had its own pool.
In addition to serving the local swim teams, the facility also would offer children’s swimming lessons, activities for seniors and open swim times for all residents, Curtis said.
While the project’s anticipated price tag is high, there have been successful large-scale fundraising efforts in Winchester. Between 2008 and 2012 the Winchester Field Development Council raised more than $1.1 million to renovate the track at Manchester Field and the turf and bleachers at Knowlton Stadium. Although the pool project would cost significantly more, WFDC President Paul Manganaro said he has spoken with Swim Winchester members and is confident they’re headed in the right direction.
“What we learned is that we’re very lucky to have a town that’s dedicated to committing their time and money to create an asset that will serve the whole town,” he said. “The key is to have a committed group of volunteers. That’s what we had.”
Support for the project has been positive so far, Curtis said. More than 400 people have “liked” Swim Winchester’s Facebook page and other local organizations have expressed interest in helping out, Curtis said.
“We’re really excited, but what we’re trying to do is be very smart,” Curtis said. “We’re being very careful about everything.”
