When the city of Madison decided a decade ago to build the Goodman Pool on the south side, it was a major disappointment to those who’d lobbied for a site at Warner Park.
City leaders at the time told north-siders to be patient. They promised that Goodman was just one of several public pools that would be developed so families of all income levels could learn to swim or enjoy a cool dip in clean water on a hot day.
In fact, the city’s 2007 Capital Budget earmarked $5 million for a new swimming pool at Warner with the understanding that supporters would need to raise $3.75 million in private donations to bring the project over the finish line by 2010.
But dreams of a new public swimming pool at Warner Park — or anywhere else in the city — are slowly fading. Tight budgets, changing priorities and the development of several “splash parks” have drained government enthusiasm for more pools.
Even Ald. Larry Palm, who represents the Warner Park area, contends another public pool in Madison is simply not in the cards.
“If there was some way you could do it without leaving the city financially liable maybe it would happen,” he says. “But I just don’t see it.”
City Parks superintendent Eric Knepp said the same thing in laying out his department’s 2017-2021 Capital Improvement Plan, warning there was no money available for a new swimming facility at Warner.
“These choices are not reflective of there being no need or value in such a facility but on the financial constraints and the need to prioritize investments in our community,” he wrote in a letter outlining his position to a Warner group.
Pool backers are undeterred, however. The Warner Park Community Recreation Center Circle of Friends continues to pursue an ambitious plan for a 12-month indoor facility that would include a 50-meter Olympic-sized pool to host swimming meets and other revenue-generating events.
Warner leader and former north-side Ald. Dorothy Borchardt believes the Madison area swimming community would support an aquatic center open year-round with a warm-water therapy pool, a large racing pool and a zero-depth leisure pool. She notes the continued popularity of the recently concluded All City Swim Meet and youth swimming in general.
“One of our goals is to offer affordable lessons so every child will have the opportunity to learn to swim,” she says.
The Warner group has identified a consultant to study the project and has raised $37,000 to pay for it. It’s now seeking $50,000 from the city for soil testing at the site, which would be adjacent to the existing community center.
The request for city support comes as Goodman Pool is enjoying a banner year amid hot weather and increasingly scummy lakes. Attendance at that 1,000-capacity facility — named after the late philanthropists Robert and Irwin Goodman, who donated $2.7 million of the $5.3 million cost — is up 5% and on target to top 60,000 paid admissions.
Opened in 2006, Goodman Pool operates with limited taxpayer subsidy and is rolled into the Parks Department under the $151,000 “aquatics” budget, which includes lifeguards at 10 city beaches.
The city estimates it would cost well over $14 million to develop a 12-month indoor facility at Warner along with up to $1 million a year in operating subsidy, according to Palm.
“With those kinds of costs, it’s a nonstarter,” says Palm.
But Borchardt maintains a Warner pool could be self-supporting and operate with private foundation backing, which helps pay for swim lessons and other programming at Goodman.
“If the feasibility study shows it can’t be done without city funds, we’ll understand and move on,” she says. “But to not at least find out is missing an opportunity.”
Still, city officials remain skeptical. Knepp in his letter to the Warner group writes that “continuing to actively and publicly fundraise for a project that does not have a clear path forward is problematic.”
Rather than pool planning money, city parks’ long-range plan calls for a splash park at Warner. The city operates three other splash parks, which include sprayers and water features but no swimming area.
At the same time, veteran west-side Ald. Paul Skidmore, who served 20 years on the city Parks Commission, doesn’t want to abandon the idea of having pools in several Madison neighborhoods.
“There are many people of all age groups in those areas that would benefit from a pool but have limited means to travel to Goodman,” he says. “I think [pools are] a great investment in the community.”
