MORGAN HILL
– Success has caused some problems at the newly opened Aquatics
Center.
MORGAN HILL – Success has caused some problems at the newly opened Aquatics Center.
With an average of 1,000 bodies a day using the three pools, water slide and spray ground – almost 400 a day more than expected – the center’s parking lot overflows with SUVs, sedans and mini-vans. But some relief is on the way.
Glenn Ritter, project manager for the new center, said Thursday that a temporary fix will be available soon when staff members, and possibly some visitors, can park in an unpaved area south of the 50-meter competition pool. Right now, construction trailers reside there.
Crowds expected over the Fourth of July weekend are forcing Ritter to look high and low for extra parking spaces.
“We are also considering opening up part of Barrett Avenue now closed,” Ritter said. “This will only get us about 10 more spaces, but every one counts.”
Ritter said the road had been closed because the city did not want to burden the residents with hordes of traffic at their door.
“People are parking there now, climbing over our sidewalk,” he said, “so we may as well open it up and make it legal.”
Much of the congestion is caused by vehicles belonging to construction workers still finishing up final details, an entire second lot, in fact. But, Ritter said, almost 95 percent of the work should be finished by mid-July and the workers will leave the lot to moms and dads and teenage drivers spending their summer days at the pool.
Ritter said the parking lot lights are installed and street lights will be up and running soon. The missing sunshade structures were shipped from Texas last Friday and should be installed soon, but it will take a bit longer for the windscreen since final details – such as choosing colors – are not complete.
Julie Spier, the city’s recreation manager, said the extra numbers flocking to the city’s latest facility aren’t a problem.
“We aren’t having to monitor the crowds,” Spier said.
But at the convoluted and popular waterslide, things are different. Adults waiting with children in the very long lines keep asking Spier when the second slide will be installed.
“When we get the money,” she said.
Spier said she would consider placing a collection box near the slide area where parents can contribute and hurry up the second slide.
“I just might do that,” she said, “but if our attendance numbers continue this way we could have the slide ready for next season.”
Ritter said that he also was working on a problem reported in The Times last Friday – that the 50-meter pool was slightly longer than allowed for competition swim meets. In a second surveyor’s report, some lanes were found to be one-eighth to one-half inch above the tolerance allowed.
He checked with USA Swimming – the group that certifies competition pools – to find what the certification process for a pool full of water and to get a recommendation for a Bay Area surveyor who measures full pools. The first survey was done by the pool builder’s surveyor when the pool was empty – a far easier process, Ritter said.
On Monday Ritter said USA Swimming referred him to Stanford for a surveyor and he hopes to have a recommendation this week.
