Anyone have any memories of all the dreaming, fundraising and planning that went into making the "Aqua Crest" pool a reality? Thoughts on the pool's future/demise?
________________________________Budget cuts could cause Palm Beach County pools to closeBy
DIANNA SMITHPalm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 18, 2009
DELRAY BEACH — Aqua Crest Pool is home to U.S. Olympic hopefuls. Children who dream of becoming professional divers. Families who spend lazy Saturday afternoons hanging by the water.
And none of them wants Aqua Crest to close. But the year-round pool is on a long list of possible budget cuts for Palm Beach County commissioners to review this summer.Aquatics Director David Lill has to cut $1.5 million from his budget, and he is proposing to permanently close the Santaluces pool west of Lantana - which would save the county $130,000 - and to make some pools seasonal, such as Aqua Crest. Lill said making Aqua Crest seasonal alone would save the county an estimated $370,000.
"A lot of Floridians don't swim as much in the wintertime," he said. But that isn't true for people such as Aqua Crest Swim Team coach David Wright, who's at the pool at least 13 times a week. In the mornings, in the evenings. Sometimes after the sun sets.
"I've coached all around the world ... and this would be the nicest pool I've ever coached at," Wright said.
Some of his students, he said, are the fastest swimmers in Florida.
"The fact they've got this facility to swim in, it's contributed to their standard of swimming," Wright said.
The pool was built in 1978 as a public pool that also benefited its then-next door neighbor, Atlantic High School.
It's one of three 50-meter pools in Palm Beach County.
The other two - the Lake Lytal pool in West Palm Beach and the North County pool in Jupiter - are not in danger of closing.
Last year, Aqua Crest had 48,000 visitors, but at the Lake Lytal pool, attendance was 72,000. At the North County pool, it was 109,000.
Aqua Crest Dive Team coach Eric Mundt believes that if the county would promote the pool, it could make up for lost revenue.
But, he said, the county doesn't seem interested in advertising it.
"The county won't even try," said Mundt, who coaches 20 kids.
He said he spent six years asking the county to let him start the dive team, and last year officials approved it.
"I finally got this program and now I might lose it," he said. "All of these things are frustrating."
Parent Toni Anderson of Boynton Beach enrolled her children in Mundt's dive lessons. She had heard rumors that the pool's hours might be cut.
If the pool is open only in the summer, "that doesn't help us at all," Anderson said.
"Diving is a year-round sport and we need to practice. If you take the pool away, there's nowhere to go."
Picture link - Palm Beach Post:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/photo/2009/07/18/aquacrest-2.html
