The cities of Santa Maria and Lompoc each recently announced plans to reopen their respective aquatic centers, with modifications.
Santa Maria’s Paul Nelson Aquatic Center is slated to open on July 20, though only partially and in accordance with county public health guidelines.
“The rescheduling is going to look completely different than we’ve had in years past,” Dennis Smitherman, recreation services manager, told the Sun.
The pool, Smitherman said, will offer lap swimming with one swimmer to a lane. Swimmers will need to reserve their lane ahead of time, with more information coming soon at cityofsantamaria.org.
The city’s also finding ways to offer swim lessons in a socially distanced manner.
“This year how it’s going to look is, if the child doesn’t know how to swim, a family member or someone who lives in the same house as the child needs to be in the pool with them,” Smitherman said. “Then our instructor will be on deck working with probably three families, separated by 6 feet.”
The aquatic center will also provide some fitness programming. Activities like wateFaerobics, Smitherman said, can be done while following 6-feet-apart guidelines.
“One of the ways we thought about doing [fitness programming] is teaching classes like stand-up paddleboarding, where you can still be 6 feet away. Everything we’re going to be doing will be small-group settings,” Smitherman said. “We’re trying to think of innovative and creative ways to utilize the pool to the full extent without compromising any of the regulations and requirements we need to follow for everyone’s safety.”
The city of Santa Maria originally proposed a budget that would have kept the pool closed until January 2021. But after community members spoke out against the closure, City Council members passed the budget with the stipulation that the pool reopen as soon as possible, funded by money from delayed capital projects.
The Lompoc Aquatic Center was slated to open on July 13, according to a Lompoc Recreation Division press release.
“The Lompoc Recreation Division is concerned about the safety and well-being of our patrons and program participants. To provide an enjoyable and safe experience, new procedures have been implemented for our programs,” the release said.
Like the Nelson pool, the Lompoc Aquatic Center will operate on a reservation-only model for lap swimming, with reservations available at cityoflompoc.com/recreation.
The pool will also phase in some water exercise classes, swim lessons “for levels 5 and above,” adult swim lessons, “parent and tot” lessons, and private swim lessons, according to the press release.
Programs and features that will not be available during the summer at the Lompoc Aquatic Center include recreational swim, group swim lessons for levels 1 to 4, day camps, pool rentals, waterslides, AquaPlay structure, and Aquatic Center Splash Passes, though lap swim passes will remain available.
In a July 13 press conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new restrictions for counties that are on the state’s watch list, such as Santa Barbara County. The restrictions require that fitness centers close their indoor operations. It’s unclear how the new orders will impact pools with indoor elements.
As of July 13, Lompoc Aquatic Center confirmed that the pool was open for reservation-only lap swimming, and the center is actively monitoring how the new restrictions affect its operations.
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2020.
