New Canaan this summer has seen far more residents purchase daily passes for the Waveny Pool than in years past, yet fewer are buying the more expensive season passes, prompting parks officials to look at ways they might boost revenue for the self-sustaining facility.
Members of the Park and Recreation Commission at the group’s regular meeting Wednesday night agreed that they must plan to have enough money in reserve to pay for a new plaster lining for the pool. One estimate puts that project at $140,000. What isn’t clear yet is just what condition the Waveny Pool’s plaster is in—in other words, how soon it absolutely must be replaced—or whether it could be done less expensively.
Recreation Director Steve Benko said the life of a marble-like plaster pool surface is eight to 10 years, noting that the Waveny Pool lining is 13 years old.
“So you’re at the point where you’re on borrowed time,” Benko said at the meeting, held in Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. “And at some point you’re going to get a massive failure and you’re going to have to close the pool.”
New estimates put the commission about 72 family passes shy of meeting its budgeted revenue (which had been based on projections from past seasons). Specifically, while daily passes are up about 108 year-over-year (that’s $10 for adults and $5 for kids), individual season passes are down more than 30 and family passes 72, the commission said. In all, the commission said it is on pace to come in about $77,000 under projected revenues ($429,000 against $506,000)—though overall Waveny Pool is netting more money this year than last.
“Revenues are up due to increased fees on both in-town and out of town passes,” Campbell said in an email after the meeting. “However the sales of in-town family passes is down. The increased revenue will help fund the capital reserve fund which will be used to cover upcoming capital expenses, the biggest one being the re-plastering of the interior of the pool.”
At the meeting, Campbell said that the concern is, going into next year, “If we don’t sell any more passes, we are just going to squeak by with no reserve if we have to do the liner at $140,000, which we are still waiting to see if we maybe can eke another year out of it.”
One revenue-generating idea floated was to discount partial-season passes for residents who go away for all of July and come back in August—something the Recreation Department has done in the past, Benko said. Campbell said it must be done equitably, so that season pass-holders still get a better value than latecomers.
Commissioners also agreed that they’d up the daily pass rate for future seasons.
During a spirited discussion about just when the commission would need money for the new plaster lining, Campbell said: “We have to reserve for [replacement of the pool lining] along with other items, whether we reserve for it and do it next year or five years from now, we still need to be putting those monies away into a reserve.”
Responding to a suggestion to sell more passes to out-of-towners (they pay $1,000 versus $475 for residents), Campbell responded that the practice would be unfair to New Canaanites who’d purchased their season passes on the strength of the commission’s word that it would sell 100 nonresident passes (and no more) this season.
Commissioner Laura Costigan said she was concerned that declining season pass purchasers may be a trend and asked whether anyone had explored the reasons why this year’s figures fell short of projections.
“Do you predict that this trend will continue next year with passes?” she said.
Suggested reasons for the lower-than-expected numbers included: changing demographics, where families whose kids are getting older bow out of memberships; more slots opening up at private clubs, drawing from the Waveny Pool membership base; more year-round sports involvement among New Canaan youth; the price increase this year for season passes; more private pools being built in town; and some past pass-holders being turned off by the decision to sell 100 nonresident family passes (most of them are Darien families, officials have said).
Not surprised that family passes are down. The price is too high. A family pass plus nanny pass is $600. This is a cold pool with a limited season and limited hours. The cost/benefit ratio makes membership almost not worth it. Of all the “reasons” for the decline in membership, the price increase should be at the top of the list.
Waveny Pool is a great facility for our residents. I hope that NC doesn’t overthink this situation and make a hasty decision because numbers are lower than they guessed.
Now, while the powers that be are pondering their next move: How about adding more umbrellas and shaded areas?
The bottom line is that while the Waveny pool facility is top notch, its freezing until about mid-July and most kids do not want to swim in it. That’s why it sits empty until its gets up to the 90s, which isn’t often until late summer. So residents have voted with their feet and gone to clubs where the water is warm. Opening it up to outsiders may make fiscal sense, but its one more thing that will keep residents away next summer. It was nice knowing you could leave your things out and not worry about a fellow neighbor taking something, but let in the border town residents and the whole dynamic changes. Ever notice where most of the criminals caught in New Canaan reside? Over the NY border. Hey, come to the YMCA though, we’ll even make a bigger parking lot for you. And hey, our pool is nice even though its cold, here’s a spot for you.
I would say most of those arrested by local police are local people. But putting aside that question, John, the overwhelming majority of nonresidents who use Waveny Pool are Darienites.
So the majority of crime in NC is committed by residents of Pound Ridge and Vista? We need a fence around the town, at once. Meanwhile I’m going to track my stolen iPhone to a mansion in Bedford. I’m tired of these Westchester criminals stealing my valuables and polluting my swimming water with their slight but not really noticeable differences from me.
With great sadness the pool season is now officially over. As with all events that have required great effort for dozens of people to pull off, I think there should be a friendly review of the success and failure of this season. Real action points can be recorded for future implementation.
1) pool temperature
2) shade and play areas
3) storage of valuables
4) schedule for members who work
5) schedule beyond labor day (when do the clubs close?) How about envening or weekend time slots?
**New Canaan is a very family oriented town and many events are shaped by this, however there are people who don’t have children, don’t work. or are retired, their lifestyles shouldn’t be fully defined by the kids school schedule