We are writing to express our deep concern over the YMCA association’s decision to close the outdoor pool at the Lionville YMCA. The outdoor pool at Lionville has served parents, children, the elderly, and members of all ages for decades, as one of the only affordable options for an outdoor pool membership in our community.

The outdoor pool does not have structural damage causing leakage, and could be kept open by performing normal ten-year maintenance, including resurfacing. We believe that this maintenance cost is a reasonable investment in the outdoor pool and, in fact, is much less than the cost of the planned demolition and conversion of the pool to pickleball courts and multi-use space.

It would be regrettable to close the outdoor pool now, just when usage at the pool has the potential to make a full recovery from the pandemic, and it would be especially unfortunate if the outdoor pool is closed based on incomplete usage information. We want to emphasize how popular and busy the outdoor pool was in the years before the pandemic, because we believe that the association has substantially underestimated pool usage for these years by counting check-ins at only one of the two entrances which served the outdoor pool before the pandemic. After closing for two years, the outdoor pool was opened for just one year, in 2022, when the association charged full-year members a relatively high additional outdoor pool fee, in order to reduce usage as a COVID-prevention measure. We believe that the new CEO, along with the new aquatics director at Lionville, should be given a chance to set strategy and restore usage at the outdoor pool to its peak before the pandemic, when aquatics was significantly profitable and able to contribute funding to other programs at Lionville.

A simple internet search reveals that pickleball noise pollution has become a divisive issue in many communities, depriving nearby homeowners of the peaceful enjoyment of their homes, and leading to litigation. We oppose the conversion of the outdoor pool site to pickleball courts, because even with noise mitigation, it is too close to nearby homes to be a suitable site for outdoor pickleball. We call on the YMCA to remain a good neighbor.

In the summer, the Lionville YMCA outdoor pool is a beautiful, bright space. We think of all the children in the zero-depth area of the pool, with their parents chatting along the perimeter. The children’s area features a gently sloping surface that goes from zero-depth to waist-depth water and is perfect for increasing children’s confidence in the water and teaching children to swim. The outdoor pool has lanes for lap swimming and is used by disabled, injured, and elderly members for whom higher impact exercise may be inappropriate. Members can relax and get to know one another in the comfortably shaded space of the outdoor pool’s deck, with its two large canopies and reclining lounge chairs. The outdoor pool helps to build community at Lionville.

We are writing to urge you to continue to serve our community with an affordable outdoor pool membership. All families should be able to afford to give their children the opportunity to be active outdoors and to learn to swim. We believe that the decision to convert the outdoor pool into pickleball courts, and multi-use space, would negatively affect the health and well-being of our community, and was made without sufficient communication and community engagement. We urge you to make the needed reasonable investment in the outdoor pool so that all members can enjoy it for many years to come.