Residents of Oxford and Miami University students may be able to look forward to having a new place to splash around in.
The city of Oxford will explore the possibility of building a new community pool this October, one that would provide an attractive facility with enhanced aquatic programs. Oxford's pool is currently located at the TRI Community Center, at 6025 Fairfield Rd.
The current pool, which was built in the 1970s, is aging and requires the city to spend a great deal of time taking care of the facility.
Oxford Vice Mayor Prue Dana said the established pool is adequate, but there are some maintenance issues.
"The pool is OK, but things are happening to the plumbing that needs to be fixed and it is starting to show its age," Dana said.
Dana said she believes a new pool would benefit the community because it would attract more residents and enhance programs, including swim lessons and a swim team.
The proposed idea of building a new pool is favored by the city; however, the nuts and bolts of the process have yet to be decided.
Right now Oxford is looking into two different locations for the building of the new pool, according to Dana. The first is to rebuild on the current site and the second is to build at the Oxford Community Park, located at 6801 Fairfield Rd.
While the city decides whether to rebuild the current pool or begin construction on Fairfield Road, each location has pros and cons which the city will take a deeper look into during October.
According to Dana, rebuilding at the current location of the pool is beneficial to the community because it's in a central location and Oxford residents are familiar with the area. However, a con she mentioned was that space is limited.
"If a new pool were built, it would take up a big deal of the TRI area," Dana said. "Also, with a new pool, you'd need parking, but the parking wouldn't have enough room."
Dana said when the pool would hold events such as swim meets there might not be a sufficient amount of parking.
Similarly, the Oxford Community Park location would offer several additional benefits and disadvantages. Dana said the Oxford Community Park holds the appropriate amount of space needed and would be near other recreation activities, such as soccer and baseball facilities. However, she said it is not a centralized location.
"It's a little further away in terms of how people are going to get to it from different points of the city," Dana said.
Oxford resident Kathy Mason has been going to Oxford's current pool since childhood and likewise took her children there when they were younger. However, she said the pool isn't the same as it used to be.
"I liked it at first when I was growing up," Mason said. "Everyone would go to swim and lay out. Nowadays, it has become a bad place where the police have problems."
Although the Oxford Police Department was unavailable for comment, Mason said the police have been called to the pool numerous times over recent years to break up fights between teenagers.
Janie Webber, another Oxford resident, expressed similar sentiments regarding safety problems at the current pool.
"My kids never went to that pool because of all the problems," Webber said. "I think kids need a new place to go to keep them out of trouble."
Both Webber and Mason said they believe that Oxford children need a better place to go during the summer and the building of a new community pool would help solve that problem.
"There isn't much for kids to do in Oxford," Mason said. "The pool now is old but it's still in good shape. A new place would be great though."
Overall, Dana said the main concern of the project would be budgeting. She said the city is concerned how expensive things will be when prices are determined.
