No more “water we waiting for.” Rockaway is getting a public pool. And planning is underway. On Monday evening, July 13, on Zoom, NYC Parks and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards presented an opportunity for the community to learn about and provide feedback on initial plans for an indoor and outdoor pool facility at Arverne East, expected to be complete by 2031.
“We’ve talked about this for a very long time and we are now delivering on exactly what we promised,” BP Richards said. “This project is very personal to me. I lost my niece to a drowning. She was about 7 years old. We know every summer, the tragic deaths that we’ve had, whether it’s visitors or local people, and we often say that the ocean is not a pool, so this is a real key opportunity to finally bring home an indoor and outdoor facility for year-round use. We’ll have shovels, knock on wood, in the ground by 2028 and then it’s off to the races to get this open by 2031.”
Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers added, “The community is one that is a coastal community where we’re surrounded by water and unfortunately, every summer we receive the news that someone has drowned. We take swim education very seriously, as well as equity in terms of access to swim infrastructure and this project, I think, is a dynamic example of when community comes together in a shared voice, what is possible through advocacy through a number of organizations on the ground. This is gonna be an affordable option for people year-round and it just is it shows what will be possible in terms of generating the next wave of lifeguards, but also just being able to teach people how to be safe around water, which will ultimately save lives.”
A public pool in Rockaway has long been on the thoughts of many who crave a facility to use recreationally, to learn how to swim and for future lifeguards to have a local place to train. As of August last year, that dream came closer to reality when BP Richards allocated $26 million toward the project, on top of an additional $10 million allocated by Governor Kathy Hochul and $10 million allocated by NYC Parks. Now, the project is fully funded, so details are being planned with the input of the community. The resilient project will be developed by L+M Development Partners, which is developing the entire Arverne East project, and the pool facilities will be overseen and maintained by NYC Parks, much like other public pool facilities across New York City. The design and development process will take 12 to 18 months and Monday’s virtual meeting to garner public feedback was the first of many that will take place as the process continues.
As laid out in Monday’s meeting, led by NYC Parks’ Queens Chief of Staff Meara Berkower, Parks Planner Laura Melendez and L+M partners, the facility will be located within the Arverne East development, at Beach 32nd Street near the boardwalk. The Arverne East Aquatics Center will consist of two pools across 47,706 square feet of space, one indoor and one outdoor. The pools will be open to the public and will have various uses including lap swim, free swim, aquatic fitness classes, lifeguard training, swim lessons and competitive swim for NYC Parks Swim Team meets for ages 6 to 18. There will be allocated times for each activity.
The indoor pool would be intermediate size, about 45 feet wide by 75 feet long, would have six lanes with diving blocks, and would range at a depth from four feet to nine feet, to meet lifeguard training standards. It could hold up to 160 people. It would be open from mid-September to late June.
The outdoor pool would have a deck with shade structures and splash pad features for little kids. The pool would have a capacity of 275 people. It would be open from late June to mid-September.
The outdoor pool will be completely open to the public, without membership. The indoor facility will require a NYC Parks Membership. This membership is free to youth ages 24 and younger. Adults can get an annual membership for $150 or a six-month membership for $75. Adults with a New York City ID (IDNYC) will receive a 10% discount. Discounts will also be offered for seniors ages 62 and up, veterans and people with disabilities at a rate of $25 annually. There will not be a sliding scale based on income.
The facility will also offer pool locker rooms and restrooms, NYC Parks management and lifeguard offices and two multipurpose rooms that can be used for a range of youth, adult and senior programming like fitness classes and can serve as a lifeguard training classroom. The pools and amenities will offer ADA access such as ramps.
After the scope of the project was presented, the chat was split into three discussion rooms for people to provide feedback and ask specific questions. A few people asked why both pools wouldn’t be open at the same time. The NYC Parks representatives said this is mainly done to ensure there’s time for routine maintenance of each pool, and so the locker rooms and allocated lifeguard staff can adequately handle the capacity.
Many asked if local nonprofit organizations can play a role in this facility like Swim Strong, Rising Tide and others that have already been working to teach locals how to swim and providing water safety instruction. There are stipulations about outside organizations coming into NYC Parks facilities, but the representatives said they would bring it back to their team for consideration.
The Rockaway Times asked if any on-site parking is planned for the facility, as parking problems continue to grow across the peninsula. NYC Parks said there is no parking planned. “Parks does not build parking lots. Generally, we want the full footprint to go towards the actual programming space,” an NYC Parks representative said. She pointed out that the facility will be five minutes from an A train stop (Beach 36th Street). Another attendee doubled down on the parking issue and the Parks rep said they would take a closer look at it.
Online comments to provide feedback will be accepted through September 30. To submit comments or for updates on future informational meetings, check out: www.nycgovparks.org/reg/community-input-meetings
