Swimmers push for bigger Lakewood Ranch pool. Manatee County is ready to make it happen
A coordinated effort to upgrade the planned pool at Premier Sports Campus from 25 meters to a full-sized 50-meter pool has support from Manatee County officials.
Swimming athletes, parents and coaches began asking county leaders to increase planned funding for the project this summer. After hearing from full-sized pool supporters during Thursday’s public meeting, the Manatee Board of County Commissioners said it would be willing to make the change.
First proposed as part of the Capital Improvement Plan earlier this year, the county’s original plan called for a 25-meter pool to be built at the county-owned Premier Sports Campus, 5895 Post Blvd., Lakewood Ranch. That pool was set to feature 10 lap lanes, a shallow area for swim lessons and a water heating/cooling system.
But residents said those plans weren’t adequate to meet the needs of local swimmers or national competitions. Premier Sports Campus hosts large competitions for popular sports, including soccer, football and lacrosse.
“We have the Premier Sports complex, which is intended to be a premier facility,” said Maggie Mooney, who urged the board to expand the planned pool. “I ask this of you because it will make Manatee County a swim destination, bring in tourism dollars and have a return on investment in the community.”
“My dream is to be an Olympics swimmer where you swim in a 50-meter pool,” added 10-year-old Ava DiPasquale. “That’s not possible in a 26-meter pool.”
As of Thursday afternoon, a Change.org petition collected nearly 1,500 signatures in support of the larger pool.
50-meter pool would create ‘world-class’ facility
Board members said they agreed with the arguments made by residents. Commissioner George Kruse said the county’s goal should be to create a “world-class facility” that attracts visitors from across the globe.
“Premier can be, should be, and God-willing, will be one of the biggest tourism drivers for years to come,” Kruse said. “I don’t want to put in a 25-meter pool if we have the capacity to do 50.”
Each commissioner spoke in favor of finding the money within the county’s budget to build the larger, Olympic-sized pool. Commissioner Misty Servia suggested that the county could use tourism revenue to pay for the upgrade, which is likely to attract more visitors once it’s completed.
“We’re going to be drawing a lot of people from outside of Manatee County to this facility, so it only makes sense that we would use our tourist development tax dollars to build either all of it or a portion of it,” Servia said.
Tripp Schwenk, a former U.S. Olympian and gold medalist, argued that the pool would also help residents in the area teach their children how to swim.
“There’s no reason to have another child drown,” said Schwenk, who earned a gold medal as part of the 4x100 meter U.S. medley relay team in 1996. “You can make the difference for the youth and our future.”
County Administrator Scott Hopes told board members he is “100% confident” that finance staff can modify the budget to come up with the roughly $770,000 needed to pay for the 50-meter pool, which would bring the total cost of the project to $14.4 million.
Hopes also suggested the possibility of adding a 25-meter pool, a therapy pool and a warm-up pool to the project, but he did not share the expected cost of those additions.
Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, who represents the district where Premier Sports Campus is located, said she was excited to hear the board’s support for the facility.
“I’ve been all-in on Premier since Day 1. If we’re going to spend the money on the land, we need to make sure it’s a premier park,” she said, referring to the county’s $5.3 million acquisition of the property in 2017.
County staff will review the plans for a pool at Premier Sports Campus and come back for final approval on the project at a later date.
