Proposed new Belmont Pool facility
Olympic diver Greg Louganis, regional aquatic supporters and coaches for college water-based teams across the country have all reached out to the City of Long Beach over the last week, bombarding councilmembers with requests that they reconsider proposed plans for the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool’s rebuild, which currently does not include mention of any diving facilities.
Tonight, many of them will descend on city council chambers to urge the City to include diving platforms and other competitive amentities, citing, among other things, the potential economic impact of building a state-of-the art aquatics facility in a town already named “The Aquatics Capital of America.”
“Belmont Plaza’s unique indoor diving facility has played an integral role in the development and success of many athletes in Southern California,” said professional diver and coach David Cotton. “Losing such a unique indoor facility is unfathomable. The community of Long Beach needs it. Southern California needs it. Every young athlete with Olympic dreams needs it.”
Belmont pool’s large natatorium, which was built for the 1968 Olympic trials, was closed earlier this year after a report deemed the structure seismically unsafe. Last week, it was announced that the pool would be closed permanently until a replacement could be built and plans were released that proposed a two-pool, indoor-outdoor facility that would accommodate recreational swimming as well as meet standards for international water polo and 50-meter swimming events.
Long Beach has one of only two indoor facilities with full competition-ready diving platforms and springboards on the West Coast; the nearest competitor being in Federal Way, Washington, which hosted the 2012 Olympic diving trials. Ruffling feathers across the diving community, however, is not only the fact that the pool’s current indoor diving platforms are absent from the new Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool plans, but so is the word “Olympic.”
“The original plans currently circulating City Hall are insufficient for major national and international swimming, diving, or water polo and will fail to attract tourism to the City,” said Jessica Pollack, spokeswoman for McCormick Divers, a competitive diving club based at the Belmont pool. “What will be presented as Plan A is not even remotely Olympic as the Long Beach icon’s current name implies. In efforts to save money, the City’s scaled-down building will not accommodate the type of large scale competitions that attract large numbers to the City.”
Proposed temporary pool
Though recreational uses will undoubtedly increase if the $54 million facility is built as planned, the proposal notes that the new pool will be equipped to host all swim and water polo competitions that it currently holds and City staff listed several more local and national events it intends to accommodate including NCAA swim and water polo competitions as well as PAC-12 conferences.
Current plans for the indoor pool can not accomodate competitive swimming due to lack of depth for starting blocks, a shallow diving well and lack of seating capacity. The outdoor pool plans would require portable bleachers to accommodate an audience for any major NCAA, regional, national, or international competitive event. There is no mention of competitive diving facilities, however recreational springboards will be built.
“Staff from the California Coastal Commission has notified the City that any replacement facility facility must provide broad based recreational opportunities, and consequently, expressed their reluctance to recommend approval of a competitively-focused aquatics facility,” the City’s report says. “As such, the proposed Project carefully balances broad based recreation and specialized competitive opportunities in an indoor Natatorium in the approximate location of the existing Belmont Pool, and a new outdoor pool immediately north of the existing facility.”
City council will vote whether or not to move forward on both the proposed facility and an interim pool to be located in the adjacent parking lot at tonight’s meeting. Greg Louganis, his first coach Dr. Sammy Lee and other diving advocates will be attending the meeting, which begins at 5PM at City Hall.
To read the entire seismic report and see the proposed Belmont Pool plans click here.
Click here to read our policies covering city council.
Read more:
- Belmont Pool to Remain Closed; Alternatives Proposed
- Belmont Pool Deemed Temporarily Unsafe; Engineers Close Space For Inspection
- Long Beach Officially Aquatics Capital of America
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