It’s aging and it’s inadequate.

That was the bottom line of a 2017 study regarding the only municipal swimming pool in Manteca — the Lincoln Park pool.

It was built on a 4-acre parcel on what was the edge of town back in the early 1960s.

It was when Manteca had 8,452 residents and preferred to be referred to as “The Crossroads of California” as opposed to “The Family City.”

Today, the city swimming pool itself is at a crossroads.

The swimming pool has become even older and more inadequate with Manteca now at 90,000 residents.

Sooner than later a decision will need to be made.

Does the city dump at least $2 million based on 2017 cost estimates to make it more viable without enlarging its existing footprint or put in a replacement pool the same size at double the cost?

Either option would leave a public swimming pool that is substandard in size and scope based on today’s standards.

And then there is the real two-part question no one seems to want to explore at city hall.

Part one: If the city succeeds in securing a sales tax increase in November to address a number of growing needs ranging from a police station, interchange upgrades, general community park need and such, would it be able to tackle an aquatics center as well?

Part two: Is it really cost effective — or even program effective — to duplicate much of what taxpayers have already built and are paying for through school district bond repayments?

Taxpayers spent $6.5M

on new pool 2 blocks away

Not much more than a two block walk from the Lincoln Park pool — assuming you can cut through the construction zone that is the $14 million taxpayer financed redo of the Manteca High football/soccer/track stadium — is a state-of-the-art swimming pool that was built two years ago for $6.5 million.

Then there is more than $3 million in swimming pool upgrades now underway at Sierra High.

Not only are those two swimming pools available in the summer for swim lessons and open pool hours with the need for the city to cover operational costs as outlined in a longstanding agreement with the Manteca Unified School District, but they are strategically located to serve two distinctly different areas in the city.

Toss in East Union High and you have three options without the capital investment that a $14 million city aquatics center would entail.

Against that backdrop, the non-swimming pool part of aquatics center — a water splash/play area — would be more accessible to more youth and families if there were three or four spread out around the city.

While the summer swim lessons and open pool do not clearly overlap with school use, recreation swim teams do.

The solution is fairly clear.

For years before Capital Aquatics competitive swim organization in Sacramento obtained their own year round training facility, they secured the use of the Oakmont High swimming pool in Roseville for training throughout the year.

It meant when there were school scheduling conflicts that competitive team practices took place in the early evening or the early morning prior to school.

That arrangement did not hamper swimmers including one Summer Sanders who went on to become an Olympic gold medalists.

Such accommodations would clearly work for the city’s recreation swim team, the Manteca Dolphins.

The city has made use in the past of the older swimming pool that has since been removed from Manteca High for overflow swim lessons and lap swimming.

Past efforts for more robust

use shot down by ‘fiefdomitis’

What his historically has happened each time someone in the past has suggested more robust use of school district pools for city programs the city has balked.

They have cited everything from it wasn’t ideal not to be in charge of scheduling and potential road bumps to,  for want of a better term, “fiefdom-itis.”

Since such an arrangement was first raised in the early 1990s, Sierra .High was built with a swimming pool that is now being upgraded.

And since it was last batted down by the city in 2018, Manteca Unified has built the current swimming pool.

The framework on how the city could effectively provide the community with more robust pool and recreational swimming program is outlined in an existing memorandum of understanding between the City of Manteca and the Manteca Unified School District.

Meanwhile, city residents have had limited access of swimming pool related recreation programs even though they are paying for the basic maintenance cost of four swimming pools in the city limits — the three operated by the school district and the one by the city that will soon need to have an expensive overhaul without adding any programming capacity.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com