Tim Sheeper, who owns the for-profit Team Sheeper LLC sports company and who just entered into a contract with the city to operate Menlo Park’s new Burgess Aquatics Center, announced his proposed slate of summer programs and fees at the Parks and Recreation Commission’s March 15 meeting to a warm response.
Although Mr. Sheeper’s schedule calls for nearly 70 fewer lane hours for public use than the city was planning to provide, and some of his customers will push the public out of the main pool during prime hours, both commissioners and residents supported the wide variety of programs proposed by Mr. Sheeper at the meeting.
“I’m blown away by the breadth of programs,” said Commissioner Paula Maurano. “If this all comes to pass, it’ll be a great thing.”
The commission voted 5-1 to recommend the city manager sign off on the proposed schedule and fees. The commission’s input may come into play April 10, when the Planning Commission must decide whether to grant Mr. Sheeper a use permit to operate the Burgess facility.
The City Council will only play a role in approving the schedule, fees or use permit for the three-pool facility if the Planning Commission’s decision is appealed.
New schedule
Questions of when the public can access the pools were left unanswered on February 28 when the City Council voted 3-2 to approve a contract between the city and Mr. Sheeper, leaving some residents concerned that the 350 Team Sheeper customers may limit access for those who use the pool only on a drop-in basis, and are not interested in enrolling in programs offered by Mr. Sheeper.Mr. Sheeper’s schedule calls for about 46 hours of drop-in public lap swimming a week, but the public is sometimes restricted to a certain number of lanes in the 11-lane lap pool, or pushed to the 6-lane, warm instructional pool to make way for Menlo Masters, Mr. Sheeper’s largest swim program.
Mr. Sheeper is proposing 351 total “lane hours” — the number of hours times the number of lanes — per week for public lap swimming. About 261 of those hours are designated for the 25-meter by 25-yard lap pool.
Before operations were handed over to Mr. Sheeper, the city planned to schedule about 30 hours of lap swimming a week, but all 11 lanes of the lap pool and three lanes of the 25-yard by 17-yard instructional pool would have been devoted solely to public, drop-in use, according to Jeff Dybdal, the city’s aquatics program assistant.
The city’s schedule would have provided 420 total lane hours for drop-in use. About 330 of those lane hours were designated for the lap pool.
Mr. Sheeper is also proposing about 17 hours of public recreational swimming each week during the summer.
After the meeting, commission Chairwoman Patricia Watkins — the only commissioner to refuse recommending that city staff approve the schedule — said some parts of Mr. Sheeper’s presentation weren’t clear, and the commissioners didn’t receive his proposal until the meeting.
“Some things just didn’t seem right, and I wasn’t ready to support [the schedule],” said Ms. Watkins. “We didn’t have time to crunch the numbers, which is why I don’t like receiving documents the same night I need to make a decision.”
New fees
Mr. Sheeper’s model for the new facility sets fees for drop-in lap swimming and recreational swimming at $5 for Menlo Park residents and $6 for non-residents. For resident and non-resident children, the costs are $3 and $4, respectively.The city’s drop-in rates at the previous Burgess facility were $4 for adults, residents and non-residents; $2 for children ages 7-17; and $1 for children under age 7.
Programs proposed by Mr. Sheeper include lessons for children 6 months and older, shallow- and deep-water exercise classes, and family events on Sundays and select evenings during the week. Fees and times vary for each program.
The proposed schedule and fees are not available online.
