The City of Lake Worth's Schemes

As many of you are concerned about our pool, around 47 minutes into the meeting, Conceptual Design Concepts and Aquatic Consulting Engineers gave their presentation on their "schemes." And everything presented was a scheme. I have to say, they worked hard to get every scenario covered other than fixing what we have now.

The County's penny sales tax was to be used for roadway surfaces, bridges, drainage improvements, canals, park amenities and government buildings as well as half of it going to public schools. Tuesday night, the seed was planted by the assistant city manager to use our penny sales tax (estimated at around $24 million over ten years) for our beach but he was quickly reminded they were not there to discuss financing of any "scheme." The city doesn't want the cat out of the bag quite yet--conniving and maneuvering with a plan to grab this cash.

IS EVERYONE NUTS? We don't want further commercialization of our beach park and we certainly don't want the cost.

Beach Park Presentation this link is provided because no one can figure out what in the heck this presentation was all about other than to entice staff and the commission to agree to one of the schemes or a combination thereof to spend millions upon millions at our beach. And no where did I see our present casino that we spent $6 million to rebuild.

Conceptual Design Concepts--(not their fault they got roped into designing these outrageous SCHEMES.) There were six different "schemes" (can't use that word enough) and these figures are in multi-MILLIONS:"

• SCHEME A--$14,513,982

• SCHEME B--$18,161,285

• SCHEME C--$18,472,612

• SCHEME D--$31,257,275

• SCHEME E--$41,201,101

• SCHEME F--$59,015,031 (this one includes a 4 story parking garage and a hotel on a public/private partnership)

Back in April, there was one charette for the public on our beach park. At the time I said leave it alone; repair our pool, open up the view so that it can be seen by those driving by; redo the lockers and bathrooms and if necessary, build a parking garage on the lower level and keep our decal parking. Lease the 2nd floor empty space or build-out around its perimeter for city purposes for offices for the Recreation Department and lifeguards and have the space in the middle to lease out for small meetings. Do not spend small fortunes.

We can dream big and what we dream may not even be close to what we can afford or actually need. We already spent $11 million just a few years ago. $5 million of it was from a Recreation Bond from the County that took us 10 years to pay off and we have many huge debt obligations outstanding as well as the 30 year, $40 million general bond obligation that every property owner owes for road infrastructure. And now the city is talking about big bucks to spend at our electric utility, needing another 138kv tie-line.

Fiscal responsibility is what's needed for our poor city...keep that in mind elected officials and city manager. The only commissioner who showed the least bit of responsibility or concern was Scott Maxwell. The rest went along, listening to the presentation and the dreams/schemes, as if they had some secret knowledge that the city had won the damn Powerball.

Our Pool is a Political Football

Back in October 2014, Andy Amoroso appointed himself to be on a special committee.  The city (Bornstein who already said our pool was a White Elephant) formed an Evaluation Committee that  included one commissioner (Andy Amoroso) and one member of our Finance Advisory board.

The city was desiring public/private ventures (in other words we own the property but someone else makes the money) at our Beach Complex and Casino to manage, maintain, operate, redesign, etc. and/or implement creative ventures. We can't/WON'T manage or operate it ourselves and the city wanted to turn over our beach complex to someone who could manage it.

And that's why you heard Herman Robinson, candidate for District 4, bring up intralocal partnerships [public private partnerships] several times at the South Palm Park Forum.

One of the options under consideration back then was to modernize the municipal pool operation that would attract adult-aged visitors during the afternoon and evening hours (e.g., restaurant, tiki bar, cabana rentals, beverage service and/or other commercial type ventures). With this option, the City prefers to maintain public pool access in the morning hours; however, creative alternatives will be considered. The municipal pool and supporting facilities cover approximately 34,000 sq. ft.

So now what do we get?  A proposal to tear out our Olympic pool and put in an aquatic center for millions.  We don't have the money to maintain our pool but now we can afford $5 million plus for an aquatic center?  And the consultant giving the proposal would be the one behind the aquatic center? Has everyone gone mad?

It just keeps getting screwier.

Read the Palm Beach Post

Lake Worth Press Release entertaining idea of an Aquatic Park in place of our Olympic Pool

CITY OF LAKE WORTH
10 SOUTH OCEAN BOULEVARD
LAKE WORTH, FL 33460
LAKEWORTH.ORG

February 14, 2017

Contact:           Ben Kerr, Communications Specialist
Phone:             561.586.1631
Email:              BKerr@lakeworth.org  

WHAT:           CITY OF LAKE WORTH MUNICIPAL POOL CLOSURE (FOLLOW UP)
WHEN:           FEBRUARY 14th
WHERE:         CITY OF LAKE WORTH MUNICIPAL POOL

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:      

Lake Worth, Florida- In response to the dilapidation and recurring closures of the Lake Worth Municipal Pool, the City Commission requested a consultation be carried out detailing the options available to the City. An experienced aquatic consultant, Bob McCallister, was hired to undertake the assessment and his recommendations and resume are attached to this email. The full report and recommendations will be presented to the City Commission on February 21st. Below is the executive summary from the report.

“Based upon this completed study, it is the recommendation of the Aquatic Consultant that renovations and improvements to the existing Aquatic Facility at Lake Worth Beach would not be cost effective nor serve the Lake Worth community and visitors to the best interest of the City of Lake Worth. 

It is the professional opinion of the Aquatic Consultant that this Aquatic Facility be closed until the bathhouse and filter room are totally rebuilt due to exposing the public and staff to the present hazardous conditions.

This report clearly identifies the need to demolish and rebuild the bathhouse and filter room.  In addition, there are major repairs and modifications needed to the pool structure and filter system.  These items alone will cost approximately $2.8 million and will not substantially increase the aquatic facility’s current use nor will the annual revenue increase.

Converting the 50-meter pool into a shallow water entry pool with interactive water features and amenities may increase the pool’s attendance at a cost of additional $1.2 million.  With the addition of architect/engineering and pool designer fees, a contingency fund of 5% and FF&E budget of $100,000 the total project approaches $4.6 million.

Further, the Aquatic Consultant recognizes that during any renovation project there may be some unforeseen problems during the renovation and/or future problems with what remains regarding the old 50-meter pool.

It is the Aquatic Consultant’s professional opinion that it would be a better decision for the City to totally rebuild a new family water park with lap lanes on the same footprint location.  Use the same footprint with all the water features in this report and possibly add more features, such as a lazy river.  This could be done for $4.5 - $5 million and would be a better use of the funding, than to try to save one end of the existing 50-meter pool.  This new aquatic facility will have the potential to be self-supporting, as the revenue generated would cover the annual operational expenses.

Finally, it should be noted that a water park facility of this nature and at this location would require at least 300 additional parking spaces.  This may require a new parking deck adjacent to the water park.  This is an additional component to this report and would require additional funding above the $4.5 - $5.0 to the new water park concept for parking deck design and construction cost.”

Please note: The above summary and the attached reports represent the recommendations of the Aquatic Consultant. The City Staff and City Commission have not yet made a decision regarding these recommendations and are waiting to do so until after the formal presentation of the information at the commission meeting on February 21st. Until this date City Manager, Michael Bornstein, stands by his decision to keep the pool closed for the safety of City Staff and the General Public. The decision to reopen or more permanently close the pool will be made following the Commission meeting.

Please contact Ben Kerr, the City of Lake Worth Communications Specialist with any questions or comments.

Aquatic Assessment

City of Lake Worth Aquatic Facilities Report

Phase Two Report

Consultant's Resume