ONE of New Zealand's largest swimming clubs is looking to take over Otumoetai Pool, a move that would save ratepayers $370,000 a year but could see public access restricted.
Tauranga City Council (TCC) is proposing to vest the pool to Otumoetai Swimming Club. The council would retain control of the land the pool is built on with the club taking over the daily operations from Bay Leisure and Events Ltd.
Details of the plan, including operating hours and public access, are being worked on with a decision not expected until public submissions on the draft annual plan close on April 22.
The proposal would shave a total of $370,000 off the city's budget - $70,000 in annual operational costs and $300,000 from TCC rates funding. But Otumoetai residents fear the club would restrict public access.
They are calling for the council to reveal details of the discussions before draft annual plan submissions close.
Otumoetai resident Chrissie Green uses the pool at least three times a week for "fitness and fatness" and said the lack of information was "disturbing".
TCC should have given the public different options to make submissions on, she said.
"At this stage there are no details available to the public anywhere and we are being asked to make a submission on something we know nothing about."
Ms Green said while it would be positive for TCC to save upwards of $300,000 she wanted to make sure the club could not restrict access to the public.
"I don't care who I pay my money to, I just want to make sure I can continue to swim here."
Retiree Johanna Butler won five gold medals and one silver at the 2013 New Zealand Masters Games. The super fit 82-year old uses the pool to train three times a week and said she would be devastated if its hours changed.
"I plan to come here in my motorised scooter when I am 100," she said.
"Tauranga City Council is always talking about how they want a healthy community filled with active old people, this seems like a step backwards to me."
Otumoetai Swimming Club president David Mercer said the club would be drafting a submission to the council over the next week.
He said the ongoing cost of operating the pool and public access were still being "worked through".
"Nothing has been resolved yet. At this stage we are putting together a submission focused on what we could do with the pool.
"We are one of the biggest swimming clubs in New Zealand and we need a large space and longer operating times but because we are a non-profit organisation there is a lot to take into account, including public access and the large ongoing cost of maintaining the pool."
Mr Mercer said the club was "community minded" and would speak to all users of the facility if it took over the pool.
"We are not an aggressive club. We are a community-minded club with 450 members, so whichever way this goes we will be talking with the community, to all the users.
"If we were to take over we would be looking to have the pool open for longer, to have more operating hours, not less. We just got them [council] to agree to open at 9am on a Saturday and the way we see it there is no reason why we couldn't open on a Sunday too."
Otumoetai ward councillor Catherine Stewart said she had received "heaps of emails" from people concerned about the pool plan.
She conceded the council should have released more details about the proposal.
"It would have been better if we had put two or three options out to the community. It would have saved a lot of confusion.
"The key to this is that it is not final, people can tell us what they think and give us their alternatives so council can save money."