A decision point is quickly approaching for a City of Grants Pass project that has been under consideration for years, renovating or replacing the Caveman Pool. Given today’s price tag to rebuild, the project has turned somewhat controversial. The pool has been in place for over 70 years, so emotions are also running high among those that grew up using the pool.
The beloved and well beyond its useful life Caveman Pool adjacent to the GP High School sits on a parcel of just under one acre of land with hardly any room to expand. However, the school district is open to building a small amount of parking immediately next to it, depending on the City’s final development plans. The pool was originally built in 1950 and while it’s been maintained, it’s literally falling apart. A City Council member recently remarked that the pool is leaking underground and needs to be refilled regularly. Just about everything about it is old and its time has come.
The Grants Pass City Council is split on what to do. Some Council members can’t get behind a rebuild because the pool is only open about two and a half months in the summertime and the price tag is approximately $12-$13 million. One Council member remarked that of those that use it regularly throughout the summer, on any given day there are usually only about 100 people and kids that are regular users. The City’s reported attendance numbers found in the City budget book suggest that on average, about 135 people use it per day in the summer when it’s open.
The complete rebuild is just that – a complete rebuild of the entire facility. It would still be an outdoor pool that would only be open in the summertime. Options being considered would add an adjacent parking lot on school property and depending on final options selected would likely cost somewhere in the range of $12.0 to $13.5 million. This is indeed a hefty price tag for a facility that is only open in the summer.
The main alternative if Caveman Pool’s life is to be extended would just be a renovation of the existing facility. Only a portion of the facility renovation option was studied (the pool alone is about $1.09 million), but the thought is that the renovation of the existing facility without major changes would cost close to $2 million. In June 2024, the City’s Parks Advisory Committee just barely passed a motion to recommend to the Council that the pool be renovated and not rebuilt.
The City Council recently passed a motion to have staff bring back a series of financing options on the complete rebuild by a margin of five to three. So a thin majority of the City Council are seriously considering going for the full $12-$13 million price tag. One City Council member voted yes just to see what financing options are available for the full rebuild so in the end the City Council may be split 4-4 on the full rebuild.
The City has tentatively dedicated $1.2 million in federal ARPA funds and $5 million in Urban Renewal Agency (URA) funds to this project, leaving a funding gap of $6-$7 million. This gap could be filled by a combination of additional ARPA or URA funds, reallocating some funds from other capital projects, or a General Obligation Bond offering (which would have to be voter approved). There may be some state grant programs that could contribute, but timing and amounts are uncertain.
A general obligation bond is not likely to pass given the vast majority of City voters are not regular users of the pool. Of course it’s all tax money, just tax money from different sources. The larger question is, should $12 million of tax money be used to rebuild a pool that is only open in the summertime?
Coincidentally, the Grants Pass YMCA is about to embark on building a brand new indoor facility which would of course include a pool similar to the existing YMCA facility. However, the vision for the new YMCA facility is a much larger recreational facility than the existing facility with a likely price tag in excess of $60 million.
The YMCA’s membership numbers have exploded upwards since the Covid lows of 4 years ago, increasing more than three times since that low. The YMCA now boasts a membership of more than 11,000 people and growing quickly, a level that could certainly support building a new $60 million plus facility. The YMCA also recently approached the City and asked the City to consider donating about 9 acres the City owns along Allen Creek Road near the Allen Dale Elementary School. A new city park was originally planned for this 9 acres, and I think the City could potentially build a smaller park on an additional 3 acres that the City owns along Allen Creek Road just a few doors down north of the 9 acres or could potentially acquire just a little more land by this 3 acres for a smaller park.
As someone that used to live over in this part of town, I think this would be a great location for a new YMCA if the land can be rezoned appropriately and I think this development could spur new residential developments and increase property values in the area. It would be great if the City Council would add some of the property along Allen Creek Road into the City’s Urban Renewal Agency Zone once it’s annexed into the City, allowing for the potential of URA funding to help with infrastructure costs of the YMCA, residential developments, or both! This is exactly the type of area ideal for URA funding because it encourages additional development in the area and boosts property values. On the flip side, using a significant amount of URA funds to rebuild Caveman Pool would yield relatively limited results in terms of property values and additional development in the area because the neighborhoods around Caveman Pool are already fully built out.
For activities like a pool or recreation facility that could be offered and operated in either the public or private sector, let’s do a rough estimate of whether the Caveman Pool would pencil out in the private sector. Recreational/Athletic facilities such as those offered by Club Northwest or the YMCA would both be considered private sector comparables.
Those that attend Caveman Pool in the summer have to pay at least $5 per day of use, the YMCA staffs the pool in the summertime and collects the day use fees to help cover their staffing costs, and the City pays roughly $100,000 per year to maintain the property. Let’s say the new pool rebuild has a useful life of 40 years so the $12 million total cost divided by 40 years is a cost of $300,000 per year. Let’s say a brand-new facility might boost usage and on average 200 people would use it per day (which again at $5 per day approximately covers the YMCA staffing costs for facility operations). Maybe we can have it open for 90 days in the summertime.
The total annual cost of operations just to break even is about $490,000 per year. The approximate cost per day for the 90 days it is open would be about $5,445 per day. Divide that by the approximately 200 people per day that would use the facility and you have to charge a day use fee of about $27 per person per day, making it unaffordable and completely uncompetitive with the private sector comparables.
Let’s say you went the membership route and you could get 800 people to sign up for a Caveman Pool summer 3-month membership. In order to break even, that summer membership cost would have to be about $612 per person for the summer period, or about $204 per person per month. This is about three times what an individual membership costs per month at places like the YMCA, and the YMCA has much more to offer than just a pool. These are just the costs for the Caveman Pool to break even, and private sector nonprofits or for-profit businesses can’t (or shouldn’t) just operate at breakeven.
The bottom line: spending $12 million on a pool that is only open in the summertime doesn’t pencil out…not even close.
My kids were born in Grants Pass and have never known living anywhere other than Grants Pass. Nothing against the Caveman Pool, but when my kids were a bit younger we drove two hours north to the City of Springfield and visited a government owned Swim Center up there more times than we visited Caveman Pool. Why? Because in addition to a regular pool they had a wave pool and a water slide that my kids really enjoyed.
Since the YMCA is already embarking on building a large new facility for an estimated $60 million plus, and as the City just began partnership talks with the YMCA, perhaps the millions of URA funds that were tentatively allocated to the Caveman Pool should be mostly reallocated to the planned new YMCA facility. Perhaps the City can partner with the YMCA to make a great plan even better with the ability to serve slightly more people. And if located along Allen Creek, it seems likely this development would be a positive boost for the surrounding neighborhoods.
If we are to save the beloved Caveman Pool, it doesn’t seem like there is a financially responsible option other than to renovate the pool for a much lower amount of closer to $2 million. Let’s keep the $1.2 million of ARPA funding dedicated to this project and launch the renovation process right at the end of summer so that ARPA funds can still be eligible for the project. Backfill the much smaller funding gap with a small amount of URA or ARPA dollars and redirect millions of URA dollars to the Allen Creek Road area developments.
And for the City Council members considering reallocating some capital dollars in other projects within the City’s capital budget to the Caveman Pool, please don’t consider this without going through a prioritization process for other projects within the Lands and Buildings Capital Fund. The City has much higher priority projects such as a badly needed renovation of the Hillcrest Fire Station interior which is also long overdue.
What do you think? Drop me a line using jay@VoteJayCPA.com or more importantly reach out to your City Council using mayorcouncil@grantspassoregon.gov.