Remove ImagesGrimsley Pool Has Plenty Of Support
January 31, 2013
At a Thursday, Jan. 24 meeting in the media center of Grimsley High School, representatives of the large community that uses Grimsley's indoor pool opposed the destruction of the pool proposed by Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins and other members of the Greensboro City Council.
Thursday's meeting showed that support for repairing the pool goes beyond Grimsley students and their parents, although those were there in force among the 100 or so people present.
But Guilford County Schools has only two indoor pools – the Grimsley pool, actually owned by the City of Greensboro, and one at Smith High School, owned by the school system. Both were built in 1976 as the result of an agreement between the city and the Greensboro city school system. Many of Guilford County's 18 high schools use one or both of the pools.
Guilford County Schools has maintained the Smith pool. The Grimsley pool was closed on the afternoon of Dec. 7, 2011, after a windstorm sheared off part of the metal roof of the pool building – but the pool was maintained and useable, although unused, until four months ago, when the city ran out of water-purifying chemicals and stopped filtering the pool's water.
The meeting was organized by a group calling itself the Save Our Pool (SOP) community – led, or at least organized, by Don Gilchrist, president of the Greensboro Swimming Association and the parent of a Grimsley student.
Gilchrist, however, was by no means the only person present influential in the swimming or Grimsley communities. There were several current or former Grimsley swim coaches, including retired 30-year head swimming coach Durante Griffin, who manages the Smith pool and managed the Grimsley pool until it was closed; current head swimming coach Angelo Kontoulas; and representatives of other programs that formerly used the Grimsley pool, including Triad Masters Swimming and the Greensboro Swimming Association youth swim league. There were also parents and students from Page High School, which uses the pool.
Those at the meeting made clear that the opposition to tearing down the pool comes not merely from Grimsley athletic supporters but from many people and organizations that have regularly used the pool. Numerous people said that two generations of their family have used the pool for scout swimming training, private birthday parties, water aerobics, and, of course, competitive swimming.
"It's been a part of my life since I was itty-bitty," said a mother of two Grimsley students. "It would be a shame to make it close."
Kontoulas, who called the meeting the "Second Annual Save the Grimsley Pool Meeting," said, "I think the public out there is really not in tune with how much this facility is really used."
An expensive study by Sutton-Kennerly & Associates Consulting Engineers Inc., reported to the City of Greensboro that the entire structure of the pool and surrounding building was compromised by ongoing subsidence, or sinking, because of a weak or unknown base of materials under the foundation.
According to members of Save Our Pool, Sutton-Kennerly raised the possibility of unknown dangers under the pool – a creek or river, Grimsley student escape tunnels, dwarf mines or the like.
Save Our Pool is relying on a new boring study by S&ME Inc. environmental engineers of Raleigh. S&ME bored through the foundation and found what you'd expect to find under a pool: "compacted and uncompacted fill materials placed during the construction of the pool" – or, in plain English, dirt.
As Gilchrist put it, "The soil boring report that came out didn't report that there was any alluvium or any flow of water under the pool."
S&ME reported that its tests indicate that the dirt would not settle appreciably more under the load of the pool and its enclosing building.
Save Our Pool supporters argue that means that the Grimsley pool could be repaired cheaply and put back into service quickly. The group's plan: drive some compacted-stone piers to support the southeast corner of the pool, which has sunk by four inches since 1976, patch up the walls, repair the roof and reopen the pool. Gilchrist said that could be done for less than $1 million.
S&ME reported that the settling had reached a state of balance – that the company did not expect significant additional settling.
One answer that has been given to the call to repair the Grimsley pool has been that high schools and other groups should use the new, $18.1 million Greensboro Aquatic Center at the Greensboro Coliseum, funded with $12 million dollars in bonds approved by Greensboro voters and $6.1 million in certificates of participation approved by the Greensboro City Council after promised private investment in the Aquatic Center failed to materialize.
Many people were angered by the bait and switch the City Council pulled to get the bonds passed to build the Aquatic Center. What became the Aquatic Center was put on the ballot under the parks and recreation banner for a community pool. Many voters thought that meant a new, improved Lindley Pool run by the Parks and Recreation Department, not a competitive swimming facility run by Coliseum Manager Matt Brown.
Supporters of the Grimsley pool said the result was inevitable – that, although some local programs are held at the Aquatic Center, its primary goal is to bring events, and people, from out of town to spend money. They said high school competitions and practices and the other events held at the Grimsley pool aren't high on Brown's list
"The Aquatic Center has been a success, much greater than expected, but that just means it's harder to get into," one Save Our Pools member said. "So we need this pool."
One speaker criticized what he called the Aquatic Center's "diving with the stars thing" he said resulted in high school teams being ejected from the Aquatic Center for weeks.
A Fox TV show based on a German TV show and titled Stars in Danger: The High Dive was filmed at the Aquatic Center in December 2012. It brought D-list celebrities from all over the country to take place in an event described on the Aquatic Center website as, "the ultimate test for eight celebrities who stepped to the edge and took a flying leap (or momentous belly flop) into diving history."
Sutton-Kennerly came up with several possible plans for the Grimsley pool, including $375,000 to tear it down and several near-$5 million plans to rebuild it.
Gilchrist said his group wasn't disparaging Sutton-Kennerly.
"We don't have any criticism of the integrity of this engineering firm," he said. "They did what they were told by the City Council. The City Council told them to go out and tell them what they would have to do to make this facility perfect. I think it's our opinion that what the City Council should have asked an engineering firm to do is find out what it would take to reopen this pool and make it safe."