The renovation of the Morrisville Aquatics & Fitness Center (MAFC) is finally happening.  And included in that renovation are two new indoor pools!  While it’s not Cary, Morrisville is close enough to be exciting news and certainly helps ease some of year round lane shortage in Cary.

The MAFC will close on Friday, November 16. The facility will be closed for about a year and is scheduled to reopen in late 2019.  When it does, gone will be the bubbled 4 lane pool, replaced by a new 6-lane lap pool and separate play pool.  The new year-round natatorium will be constructed with a retractable roof to allow for open-air use in the warmer months.  So that’s pretty awesome.

The only sad news is the pool has gone from a planned 8 lanes down to 6.  I’m sure cost constraints played a large factor in that revision.  Still 6 is better than the previous 4 lanes and infinitely better than anything Town of Cary has provided residents.

Not sure how I missed this back in November, but Morrisville has revised its strategy for upgrading the aquatic center.  Given the current upgrade efforts are $1M+ over the available funding, Morrisville is now looking at covering the upgraded pool with a permanent vinyl or glass-paneled dome.  Still 8 lanes, no change there, just a reduction in the cost of the structure to fit within the funding.

Certainly not ideal, but hey – at least Morrisville is trying to make this work.  I still can’t believe they haven’t found a partner to help offset the funding short fall.  A local swim team, the Town of Cary, some group has to be able to help them make up the difference.

More details here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/cary-news/article115152398.html

According to the News and Observer, Marlins of Raleigh (MOR) is considering the purchase of the River Rock Swim Club. The plan would convert the seasonal outdoor pool at River Rock Swim Club to a covered year round facility capable of supporting the MOR team. Something similar was done in 2015 at the Cary Swim Club.

It’s always encouraging to see additional USA Swimming opportunities in Cary – I just wish it was farther west to support the under served area around NC 55.  It would be amazing if they’d consider partnering with Morrisville on the Morrisville Aquatics and Fitness Center renovations.

Marlins of Raleigh swim team may expand to Cary

Almost a year after the town council was presented with Morrisville Aquatic and Fitness Center renovation options, finally an update! If you recall, in March 2015 Morrisville was presented with renovation options that were all well above the 2012 bond funding. The lowest cost renovation option was $6.5 million and the 2012 bond was approved at $5.7 million – $4 million of which was marked for the aquatic center. So Morrisville said they’d seek private partners to help cover the gap.

Now, almost a year later, it appears Morrisville didn’t find any partners. At the February 2016 town council meeting, a lower cost renovation option was presented. This one comes in at just under $5.7 million. It appears the original $1.7 million in the bond intended for Morrisville Community Park will now also go to the aquatic center (hey – no argument here).

But still no definite movement. Mayor pro-tem Steve Rao said a final decision on the aquatic center renovation plan could occur in the spring. The “could” is a bit worrisome given the “speed” of this project so far. Rao then said that even if they did approve the plan, the start of the renovation was still at least a year or two away. Not encouraging.

I’ve said this once before and I’ll say it again. Morrisville and Cary should partner on these renovations. The location of the pool is so close to Cary it’s almost in Cary. The proximity to NW Cary fills a huge aquatics needs that’s completely underserved now. Cary could contribute the funds required to make this the kind of facility it needs to be and then both Cary and Morrisville would have an amazing facility to use. My fear now is that Morrisville is so concerned with cost that they’ll build another completely inadequate pool (like the one they have now).

Morrisville considers less expensive renovations for aquatic and fitness center

Town of Cary has grown leaps and bounds over the past 3 decades.  A reasonable question might be, does Cary have the population to support a public pool?  Here are some population stats from other Triangle cities followed by public pools in these cities.