Cedar Pruitt is the president of Friends of Albemarle
Work is underway to assess what changes are needed to make Newton’s only outdoor pool, Gath Pool, more functional and inviting for the community. Through a series of community meetings hosted by Parks, Recreation & Culture, input has been solicited and design options have been presented. The latest in the series was held last week.
The 12/2/21 open meeting about Gath Pool had a lot of new information, and Friends of Albemarle, an advocacy organization dedicated to giving a voice to the 17 acres of open space that provide outdoor activity, recreation and community for countless generations throughout the city, wants to ensure residents are aware of the current path of the project.
While three designs were presented, none featured any options for year-round swimming, and all designs were similar to one another.
From the community reaction to this meeting, it seemed clear that while an outdoor pool is very needed in the summer, there is a strong demand to understand the opportunities of a footprint that can accommodate indoor, year-round swimming as well, whether from a bubble option or additional pool situated on the same site.
In a recent Friends of Albemarle survey with 106 respondents, nearly 70% said that their #1 priority for the pool is the ability to add covered/indoor swim time during non-summer hours – while retaining the outdoor pool in the summer. 40% identified the second leading priority as having lanes that can accommodate both recreational and competitive swim at the same time. The third priority is a modernized bathhouse, according to 40% of the respondents.
A reconfiguration of the field house and tennis courts could potentially allow for these changes without eating into field space.
The city councilors on the call urged residents to reach out to the mayor and their respective councilors, asking that the big picture be considered before next steps are taken.
Watch the recording, reach out to the mayor to encourage the city to think big during this time of change and growth, and become a member of Friends of Albemarle (it’s free and easy!): https://friendsofalbemarle.org/members
Recording of the Gath Pool meeting (Thursday Dec 2, 2021):
Mayor’s email:
All City Council:
To contact your individual city councilors:
https://www.newtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/67495/637522619580330000
Gath Pool is in Ward Two, Precinct One, which has the following Councilors:
Susan S. Albright E-mail: [email protected]
Tarik J. Lucas E-mail: [email protected]
Emily Norton E-mail: [email protected]
Project email:
Project website:
During the meeting, they threw out a $20M estimate for indoor (vs budget of $5M).. plus ongoing cost issues
$15m extra for a removeable bubble? Not an expert, but doesn’t seem to pass the sniff test. Those in charge even want to consider an indoor option…
I’m not sure why… perhaps those who have private swim club memberships don’t understand the need of others?
Those in charge DONT even want to consider an indoor option…
Also happy to see 3 councilors on the call supporting the indoor option
I like the idea of an indoor/outdoor option though the numbers thrown around seem rather high. Time for an expert or consultant to come up with options. If the plan requires some community funding and even a fee for naming rights, why not? Surrounding towns don’t seem embarrassed by commercial intervention, especially in this era when even affluent taxpayers object to higher taxes.
Thanks so much to Friends of Albemarle and president Cedar Pruitt for all the hard work and advocacy.
I do support the concept of a year round pool. Perhaps those who would use it could pay a membership fee.
Although the price tag may seem high I must say the city is spending close to $20 million to renovate the old Horace Mann school with special gymnasium and outdoor play facilities. This new school is dedicated to 100 preschool children with special needs. The idea of an indoor pool seems reasonable if it serves hundreds of Newton families.
There is an ethical mandate to provide the best possible education for students with special needs. There is no such ethical mandate to build an indoor pool.
>A reconfiguration of the field house and tennis courts could potentially allow for these changes without eating into field space.
That’s exactly what the NewCal senior center proposed but you and others here falsely claimed it was ILLEGAL to build on open space, even hardscape, since the land was donated as a park for recreation. Now that seniors won’t be invading your neighborhood, it’s suddenly okay to build on open space–provided it benefits YOU.
NIMBY confirmed.
See NewCal plans: https://newcal.projects.nv5.com/download/program_design/Preliminary-Draft-Albemarle-Site-Test-Fit-Options_3.pdf Might as well just build this and hang a sign outside that it’s for locals only (or limit parking!).
V14 post outrage of losing hardscape: https://village14.com/2019/10/23/albermarle-redux/
Just shows you that the rules change depending on who benefits. Such hypocrites.
It seems to me that the citizens attending these meetings, aren’t attending a “we want your opinion” meeting, but a meeting to buy into what the design committee has proposed. I would appreciate labeling the meeting with a different name. This meeting is see the three designs, and what the community input was previously was put to bed. Have real numbers of why a year round option is NOT optional with costs. The cost is X, and the city would need to charge each participant an $X fee for the season.
I can’t help but remember the majority of people didn’t want high school to start at 8:45 AM/9 AM, but that is what we have because the leaders didn’t want to come up with additional funding for transportation. Each decision has a cost. Tell us the (real) costs.
I think the department needs a gentle reminder of whov they really work for. If 70% of residents participating tell you they want an indoor option then surely it deserves a written cost analysis?
Eg, if its only $2m extra for a dome, residents can try to arrange funding. If its an extra $100k a year in costs, give us an estimate of annual fee or corporate sponsorship opportunity
I totally agree. Give me all the information. Not the information the team wants me to know.
The department works for the mayor who has likely never used a single public facility in Newton.
I believe David M.is wrong to mis judge the opposition to New Cal at Albemarle. I did not support the proposal to build a senior center/athletic center at Albemarle.
My suggestion is that the city planners build a modest renovation for the seniors with a larger physical space for group meetings and large muscle activities. This would not include a multigenerational basketball gym.
Instead expand the Albemarle space to include a basketball indoor gym. The community groups would likely support this change in vision.
Build an indoor gym at Albemarle and renovate the Senior center in Newtonville without a basketball gym. Enlarge the senior center but not on the scale currently proposed.
An indoor/year round option would be great. For folks who can’t or don’t want to join a full service health club, the indoor pool option is the high school. That has very limited lap and recreation times and shares its non-school hours with the Newton Bluefish. (Brookline’s pool is technically on the high school campus, yes, but it’s not part of the academic buildings, so folks can use it throughout the day without interrupting school.)
As a point of reference, it cost wayland $2.5M to build their bubble dome pool in 2010
Inflation, labor, materials cost have probably doubled since then… but just to get “rough” idea. Also seems residents fund raised for it too
https://www.waylandenews.com/2010/11/08/wayland-community-digs-deep-for-new-pool/
This seems like another example where the City gets input from the citizens then heads in a completely different direction without providing a thorough explanation. The indoor/outdoor pool option allowing for year round use should not be pulled from consideration. The costs and trade offs should have been presented.
The Wayland Pool has been a community run pool not funded by the Town of Wayland since the 60s. It was originally an indoor only pool. A non-profit runs the pool. Though it is located on the same grounds as the high school it is run separately from the Town. It was a smart move for them to convert it to an outdoor pool with a bubble. Newton would most certainly benefit from a year round community pool. The pool at Newton North has limited availably and really isn’t much of a community asset. Swimming is a life long activity and if we are spending funds to rehabilitate Gath the process should not be short sighted.
I don’t understand the need to replicate what the YMCA already provides?
Especially if there’s a fee involved, can’t people swim at the Y? I used to drop my son and his friends at the YMCA to play pickup basketball in the winter.
When I was in college a thousand years ago, I used to play pickup games at the Y on Huntington Ave in Boston in the winter.
I support redoing the Gath pool. I don’t support making it indoors with or without a bubble. Thats a huge expense and the maintenance and staffing will get even more expensive.
The city roads and sidewalks are a mess. There are rats in Newtonville that are a big problem. Let’s get the basics done right.
I will also submit for your pondering that a bubble is highly inefficient from a greenhouse gas standard. I played tennis for many years at mount auburn club in their bubbles. They were never heated very well, which is not a complaint, but I imagine that a lot of whatever heat there was heat escaped, especially since those types of bubbles are largely supported by interior air pressure.
Add to that the heating of the pool. So, consider the environmental costs of a bubble for swimming in the winter.
I will add to that the fact that my wife and I have been trying to get the housing authority to make some small improvements to the public housing ( everyone on V14 is for housing, yes?) by getting the dumpsters moved back away from the sidewalks, as their placement there is attracting illegal dumping. Not to mention the trash blows up and down the street when it overflows. Can we get a little money to improve public housing? No? Because we need an indoor pool?
A full size gym at the senior center, a block awa6 from a full size gym at the 91 million dollar high school?
I also understand that the Horace Mann school could use some attention.
I submit to the readers that the cities priorities need some re-examination.
City’s.
By th3 way I’m talking about the public housing near Albemarle field, across the street from what was Horace Mann School.
I definitely agree that improvements to the pool for outdoor use need to be a priority for the city. However, whether it should have a bubble and be accessible year round seems to be in the category of “nice to have”. Given all of the other competing priorities for public dollars with which the city is dealing, I am not sure if having it accessible year-round rises to the top of the list. If there was fundraising or a very generous benefactor who wanted to contribute to an indoor bubble, I would be all in favor, just not sure about using taxpayer dollars for it.
I also would have questions about staffing year-round. This year, Gath Pool couldn’t even stay open until labor day because of staffing issues. College students go back to school the end of August and finding qualified H.S. students may be an issue. I wonder if this is one of the reasons that the indoor pool at our $100 million high school is infrequently open for public use.
The residents are asking for a cost analysis. Is that too much to ask?
Depending on the one-time/on going costs, residents can decide if the excess can be privately funded
.. but to just throw out a $20m estimate is not serious due diligence
I have spoken with one City Councilor who raised a very good point about priorities. Currently adding a gym/basketball court to the Senior Center (aka NewCal) is getting prioritized over an indoor pool option at Gath. Is that the right choice? How many Seniors are asking for a basketball court?
Sure there are some indoor pool options in Newton, but there are WAY more gyms/basketball courts
When my kids went to swim meets (GO NEWTON BLUEFISH!) and tournaments at Gath Pool, it was a pathetic venue compared to the other municipal indoor pools in the area. There was little or no seating, it was not fully accessible for people with disabilities, and do not even get me started about the showers and locker rooms. A decent indoor municipal pool would attract regional and state tournaments that would bring in revenue on a year-round basis, as long as it has enough lanes for such competitions (unlike NNHS) and seating. Did anyone raise this idea at the meetings that were held?
Rapscallion, yes a competition-ready municipal pool would be great. But is Albemarle a good place for it? I know it’s one of the only places to put it, but it’s effectively an awful parking lot (one row, one inlet and one outlet) that’s incidentally a huge flood risk.
I think the city should be ready with a strategic plan for a regional sports center if the real estate opportunity ever surfaces. Or even just a pool. It would take the weight off the imperfect Albemarle as the city’s primary sports center.
mike,
sounds like you are suggesting another developer “give-a-way” in return for a sports center :)
Mr. Stallion,
“A decent indoor municipal pool would attract regional and state tournaments that would bring in revenue on a year-round basis, as long as it has enough lanes for such competitions”
How much revenue ( to the nearest thousand is close enough )?
There are many comparable indoor pools in the region. The city could get comps for revenue generation”if they really wanted to”
Again, residents are simply asking to put all facts on the table.
Bugek, I am expressing a clear vision for a high quality sports center that addresses an historic and chronic need in the city. There are multiple ways to get there. All of them would take courage, planning, and resources.
Any way you slice it, though, if we meet a major long-term need it isn’t a giveaway.
1. Will building a better pool get mayor Fuller more votes?
2. Will the pool bring as much benefit to residents as the $15M Webster Woods?
3. Does anyone but Nicole Banks get to make decisions about the pool?