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Menlo Park has proposed revising aquatics fees that would give Belle Haven residents a deep discount to use the pool in the new neighborhood center underway there.
During its regular meeting Feb. 13, the City Council, in a 3-2 vote, moved to proceed with the proposal to revamp fees for various activities and services at the pool complex at Burgess Park and the one being built as part of the Belle Haven Community Campus (BHCC) under construction at 100 Terminal Ave. Vice Mayor Drew Combs and Councilmember Jen Wolosin dissented.
The council is expected Feb. 27 to consider final approval of the new fees, which would then become effective on April 1.
“The vast majority of resident fees do not increase with the new proposed fees,” Sean Reinhart, the city’s library and community services director, said during the meeting. “In fact, there is a very substantial reduction proposed in resident fees, specifically for residents who qualify for the hyperlocal rate.”
The hyperlocal rate would be a reduced charge applying to those residing or going to school within the BHCC service area, which would extend from Bay Road to San Francisco Bay and encompass all of council District 1 and portions of District 2 near the pedestrian and bicycle overcrossing of Highway 101 at Ringwood Avenue.
For the most part, according to a city staff report, those within this area would see fees lowered by up to 35%.
They would be charged, for instance, $42 for monthly lap and open swim compared to the current $65, according to the report. Other residents and non-residents would pay the same as they do now for that activity – $65 and $72, respectively.
The discount for those in the BHCC area “would result in overall lower revenues at Belle Haven Pool,” Reinhart said, “but it’s hoped that the increased usage of the facility will offset the revenue lost to some degree.”
The idea behind the hyperlocal rate is to prioritize access and use of the new community center by those in that service area “in recognition of historic inequity and generational harm caused by redlining, freeway construction and property loss, and other discriminatory practices of the past that uniquely affected the neighborhoods in the vicinity of BHCC,” the staff report said.
BHCC is targeted for a summer opening with the Belle Haven Pool expected to be ready later in the year.
During the meeting, the council directed that the fee for subcontractor lane rental be reduced to $15 from the staff-recommended $18.
The direction came amid concerns that nonprofit groups subcontracting space in the city’s aquatics program – long managed by private operator Team Sheeper – are being charged too much.
Currently, the fee for subcontractor rental per hour a lane ranges from $14 to $18, according to the staff report.
But other pools elsewhere charge $6 to $8, public commenter John Martin told the council.
He complained that in Menlo Park community programs are paying the same level as commercial outfits.
“We just don’t think that’s fair or reasonable and respectful,” he said. “So we don’t think the operator should be increasing fees for any of the community programs. In fact, we think the operator should be bringing the fees back in line with what other local pools are charging.”
Combs acknowledged that sentiment during council deliberations. “I do think that there’s legitimate concerns from established community nonprofits about these increases and the impacts and the disparate nature that is appearing there,” Combs said. “I think that that’s valid.”
Tim Sheeper, CEO of Team Sheeper, told the council that the subcontractor fee has held steady at $14. While other fees and operating costs have gone up, Sheeper said, the lane charge for subcontractors has “remained the same for the past five to six years.”
The city’s aquatics fees are currently set at the discretion of Team Sheeper, Reinhart said.
If ultimately adopted by the council, the revised fees would be incorporated into the city’s master fee schedule.
That move would be consistent with the requirements in the new five-year contract that the council approved in September for Team Sheeper to continue running the city’s aquatics program, the staff report said.
That contract stipulates that aquatics fees would be subject to council approval in the master schedule, the report said.
Providing discounts for city services to individual neighborhoods within the city opens a pandora’s box.
If the city wants to pay reparations then put a referendum to do so on the ballot but don’t try to play games with fee schedules.