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Rinconada and city pools report increased lessons and stable membership; staff seeks more lifeguards and weekly junior lifeguard camp
Summary
City staff reported more swim lessons, strong resident participation and steady membership at Palo Alto pools. Staff plans to expand lifeguard certification classes, increase community swim lessons and pilot a weekly junior lifeguard summer camp.
City aquatics managers told the Parks and Recreation Commission on Dec. 18 that participation at Palo Alto pools has grown since the pandemic and that program demand now outstrips available water time.
Sarah Robustelli of Community Services opened the presentation with 2024 highlights: roughly 35,000 lap‑swim visits (about 78% by Palo Alto residents), monthly members making up about 82% of lap swim users, and more than 27,000 open‑swim visits. Staff reported nearly 8,000 participants in camps and community swim lessons in 2024 and said a large majority of participants in masters, lessons and camps are city residents.
Tim Schiefer (aquatics program lead) told the commission that open‑swim attendance has tripled since the pandemic as access has increased, while lap‑swim annual visits have declined from pandemic peaks but membership remains steady. Schiefer said the program receives consistently high satisfaction scores and that the most frequent public request is for more available water time.
Plans and constraints: staff said they will expand the number of lifeguard certification classes to keep a steady lifeguard supply through shoulder seasons, establish a weekly junior lifeguard summer camp aimed at ages 9–13, and increase the number of community swim lessons. Schiefer said seasonal cleaning and extra daytime janitorial resources helped manage locker‑room cleanliness during high summer usage.
Commission questions focused on adult lessons, seasonal scheduling and how to better leverage pool partners (including PASA and Palo Alto Unified School District pools) to secure more lap lanes in evenings; staff said they will pursue pilot agreements with PASA in summer to test evening lap‑lane availability.
Ending: staff said the full aquatics report in the meeting packet includes expanded data and graphs; the item was for discussion only and staff invited follow‑up questions as they finalize plans for 2025 swim schedules and expanded training.
