Changes in some capacity are coming to the Big Pool after its 2019 season, and the City of Garden City is turning to the public to see exactly what those might be.
At its Tuesday meeting, the Garden City Commission unanimously approved a long-term community input process that will gather feedback from community members and local entities regarding the future of the historic, though ailing and expensive, Big Pool.
Following up on her report on the pool earlier this month, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Cunningham told the commission that last summer the pool cost approximately $3,337 per day in utilities over 139 days, $1,019 of which paid for the 200,000 gallons the pool loses daily. Including capital and electricity costs, the pool’s 2018 expenses were over $780,000, compared to approximately $91,000 in revenue, she said.
The pool, which opened in 1922, is a Garden City landmark and billed the world’s largest outdoor concrete municipal swimming pool. As the city’s only public pool, its $2 admission offers a cheaper alternative to other swimming options. Regardless, the pool’s age bears consistent, costly structural problems, including an unidentified leak to blame for the hundreds of thousands of lost gallons each day.
(Read more: News – The Garden City Telegram)