A recent community survey appears to show support for at least one proposed option in pursuing a referendum to update or replace Oak Creek High School's pool.
The Oak Creek-Franklin School District recently released the results of a survey intended to gauge the amount of community support for the potential projects. There was the most support for a $36 million option to build competition and community pools, with 52% of the 4,008 respondents supporting that option.
The pool existing pool is used by Oak Creek High School physical education and lifeguard certification classes, the school's boys and girls' swim and dive teams, by Oak Creek Community Education and Recreation Department for swim lessons, teen and adult swim, open swim, lap swim and a recreational swim club, according to Oak Creek Community Education and Recreation Department Director Heather Ryan.
Here's what to know about the survey results.
What is going on with Oak Creek High School's pool?
The pool was built in 1962 and had partial repairs in 2013 and 2021 to keep it operational. Use of the pool in the 2022-23 school year exceeded 62,000 visits for physical education, swim team practice and meets, swimming lessons, community swim club and open swimming. The pool is not energy efficient and is past its expected service life, according to the district. The pool's age makes repairs "much more complicated and costly," and the pool's size and limited surrounding space makes accessibility difficult, according to information about the pool in the survey.
While Oak Creek-Franklin School District voters passed a $60.9 million facilities referendum in 2018, the pool was not among the referendum projects.
What are the options, and how did the community respond?
The survey presented three options.
The first option asked respondents whether they would support a $36 million referendum to build competition and community pools; 52% of respondents supported this option.
A second option asked respondents whether they would support a $20 million referendum to build a competition pool; 48% of respondents supported this option.
The third option asked respondents whether they would support an $8.5 million referendum to refurbish the existing pool; 33.75% of respondents supported this option.
Survey results said there is enough support to take the first option to referendum in November. The school board would have to vote to put the measure on the ballot.
What features would the community and competition pools have?
Option 1 includes:
- eight swim lanes for the competition pool
- zero-depth entry
- a warm water pool for community use
- room for 650 spectators
- expanded hours for community use
- daytime community access
- a community room
- concessions
- public, family and team locker rooms
- pool would remain open during construction
- natural lighting
Option 2 includes:
- eight competition swim lanes
- zero-depth entry
- room for 380 spectators
- limited daytime community access
- concessions
- public, family and team locker rooms
- pool would remain open during construction
- natural lighting
There would be no warm water pool, no expanded hours for community use and no community room under Option 2.
For both Options 1 and 2, the old pool area would become a new weight room facility, and the new pool would be in space currently occupied by the staff parking lot between the Ninth Grade Center and the 10th- through 12th-grade building. By adding the pool facility, the Ninth Grade Center and the 10th- through 12th-grade building would be connected by an indoor hallway, according to the district's website.
If Option 3 were selected, the number of competition swim lanes would stay at six; spectator seating would be limited to 166, with 75 obstructed view ,and a team room would be created. However, there would be no warm water pool, no zero-depth entry, no expanded hours for community use, no daytime community access, no community room, no concessions and no public or family locker rooms. The pool would not be open during construction, there would be no natural lighting and there would not be a need to repurpose the current pool area into a weight room.
For each of the three options, the pool's life expectancy would be 50 years.
What would the tax impact of each option be?
For the $36 million competition and community pools option, Option 1, the estimated school tax rate would increase by 7 cents per $1,000 of property value over the district's 2023-24 tax rate of $8.06 per $1,000 of property value.
For the $20 million competition pool option, Option 2, the estimated school tax rate would increase by 4 cents per $1,000 of property value over the district's 2023-24 tax rate of $8.06 per $1,000 of property value.
For refurbishing the existing pool, Option 3, the estimated school tax rate would increase by 2 cents per $1,000 of property value over the district's 2023-24 tax rate of $8.06 per $1,000 of property value.
In charts on its website, the district said its debt strategy would "pause" its advance payments of future debt and reallocate those funds to the new pool debt. The strategy would help hold the tax increase "relative flat." Once the pool debt is paid, the district would resume paying off future debt until its debt is paid in full. This strategy would apply to all three options, but the timing of how long the pause would be in effect varies depending on the option:
- Option 1, competition and community pools: pause would start in 2025, end in 2029
- Option 2, competition pool: pause would start in 2025, end in 2027
- Option 3: refurbishing pool: pause would start in 2025, end in 2026
Would fees be charged for community use?
In a frequently asked questions section on its website, the district said it anticipates similar fees as with its current pool if Option 1 were chosen. Those fees are $3 per person for open and lap swim; swim lessons are $48 for eight classes.
Those fees are expected to remain similar under the other options, according to Ryan.
What are the next steps?
The district's pool committee is expected to make a recommendation on which direction to pursue at the May 20 School Board meeting, according to district chief business and financial officer Blaise Paul.
Once the board decides which option to move forward with, the district will gather more community feedback on the chosen option. The board likely wouldn't take any action on a referendum question until August, according to Paul.
Depending on what option is selected, Paul said any work would probably start in the summer of 2025 at the earliest.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
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