UPDATE: Piedmont Council Sets Pool Fees, Schedules—Passes Now Available

The Piedmont City Council on Monday night approved a pool fee schedule, including hours and prices for annual, seasonal and daily passes.

Passes went on sale Tuesday morning following the council's approval. Seasonal and annual passes are available by visiting the Recreation Department, 358 Hillside Ave, or calling 510-420-3070 during business hours. Passes are not available online at present. 

The is Exhibit 1 in a council agenda report by the Department of Recreation.

It was the fifth in a series of hearings on pool schedules and policies as the city prepares to take over operation of the Magnolia Avenue pool complex July 1 from the Piedmont Swim Club.

There was one notable change as staff brought the fee proposal to a public hearing Monday. Staff recommended limiting pool use on Sundays to holders of annual and seasonal passes. Daily use, also called gate or walk-up use, would be limited to Monday through Saturday.

Council member Garrett Keating brought up another potential change Monday. The schedule shows walk-up use Monday through Thursday ending at 5 p.m. Keating suggested the city accommodate families bringing young ones for an evening splash by extending that to 7 p.m.

“We’ll take a close look at that,” said Recreation Director Mark Delventhal. “On the surface it makes sense to me.” Delventhal said staff would analyze whether such a move might affect the sale of seasonal passes.

Delventhal said the proposal represented staff going over both public and council input and balancing public access with maximizing seasonal and annual passes to generate revenue and ease the burden on the city’s general fund.

“I believe you found a balance,” said Vice Mayor John Chiang.

Jon Sakol, a board member of the swim club, said the Recreation Department’s proposal was a “great compromise.” The swim club customarily had about 550 members, Sakol said, and it will be interesting to watch the city’s number of passholders vis-à-vis the unknown of the quantity of walk-up pool users.

Sakol and several community members spoke in favor of the fee schedule and urged its passage so Piedmonters could start buying passes this week.

“I want everybody to buy a pass!” said council member Jeffrey Wieler.

Regular lap swimmer Duncan Watry supported the department’s plan. He said a letter of support among lap swimmers had more than 25 signatures.

George Kersh said he “got the feeling” that the city was moving toward hiring civil servants to staff the pool in the future, and urged the city to stick with contracted personnel.

Dan Harvitt applauded the city’s proposal. “This will allow many of us to take advantage of this great asset,” he said.

He suggested the city take a look at alternating Saturdays and Sundays as pass-only days in order to accommodate the schedules of diverse walk-up users.

You may read the staff report on pool fees here.

David Weisgerber, the city's recreation supervisor, said Tuesday afternoon that fewer than 10 passes had been sold so far, but that the department had received many calls asking about their availability in recent days.

Alison Moodie contributed reporting to this article.