The below listed residents of Peekskill seek to increase opportunities for all community members to utilize Veterans Memorial Pool. We believe that the current schedule and configuration of the Olympic size pool provides no opportunity for proper and safe lap swimming while the pool often sits largely empty during certain hours. By taking a few simple and cost-neutral measures, the Department of Parks and Recreation could provide valuable exercise opportunities for Peekskill residents, maintain pool access for all other recreational uses and cultivate a community of enthusiastic “pool supporters” to aid in the preservation of Veterans Memorial Pool.

Our proposal is to simply adopt some form of combined full-length lap swimming and recreational usage of the pool. This is how most public pools, and certainly all which are 25 meters or greater in length, are utilized. Three possible options are as follows:

• During times when the pool is not being fully used for youth instructional programs, two full-length lap lanes could be installed on one side of the pool. The remaining “open pool space” would be more than sufficient for even the highest level of recreational usage experienced at Veterans Memorial Pool.
• During select times, 3 lap lanes could be installed as in scenario 1. This could occur during “off peak hours.”
• During “off peak” times, one hour could be set aside for full length lap swimming, using the entire pool. For example, the pool could be dedicated to full-length lap swimming from 6pm-7pm on Monday through Friday.

As is widely being done elsewhere, these scenarios could be adapted to COVID-19 protocols in order to ensure proper distancing by limiting each lane to one swimmer for a 30-minute period.

To discuss this matter, please contact Robert McCreanor at 347 724 4338 and/or Suzie Malone at 845 667 2635. Thank you.