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Upper Arlington rec department reports expanded day camps, pickleball boom and aquatics staffing challenges
Summary
Parks & Recreation reviewed 2025 operations: added a fourth summer day-camp location that eased immediate waitlist pressure; celebrated high pickleball and tennis usage; and flagged staffing shortfalls, especially for lifeguards, that constrain late-season pool hours.
Parks & Recreation staff delivered a multi-part update covering expanded summer day camps, facilities and aquatics operations. Jeff Anderson (Deputy Director) said adding a fourth camp location at Barrington reduced the pace of signups and allowed reduced enrollment per site for better camper-to-staff ratios; staff also hired an additional camp director and set a March 1 cancellation deadline to improve waitlist reliability.
On facilities, staff reported Northam Tennis took in $107,677 in fees against roughly $114,756 in expenses last year and that members praised the new court surface. The department plans to extend late-season tennis play into October 2026 and to reintroduce programming and weekend hours after survey feedback.
Dedicated pickleball courts were described as "extremely well received," with 2,046 reservations in 2025 and a reported 250% increase in visitors to that park area compared with 2023. Staff said they implemented a reservation system and prioritized leaving space for open play.
Aquatics staff said early-season weather in May and June depressed season-pass sales in 2025 and that pass-holder and daily-pass patterns are sensitive to weather. The department reported 558 summer swim-lesson participants, 144 indoor lesson participants in summer, and 723 indoor registrants since opening the community center. A new aquatics manager, Leah Reese, starts March 23.
Multiple council members pressed staff on staffing, especially lifeguards. Staff described nationwide labor-market pressures: summer staffing peaked near 199 people but fell sharply by mid-August when schools resumed. Staff said financial incentives alone were insufficient and identified a predictable solution of hiring full-time year-round lifeguards to guarantee summer coverage; that approach was presented as the most reliable but costlier option.
Council asked about using community-center space for half-day camps; staff said winter camps were feasible but summer demand and building use by seniors make regular full-day summer camp at the community center difficult. The department will return with master-plan-aligned proposals (including Fancybird pavilion capacity) and a full-year report on the Bob Crane Community Center in April.
No legislative action was required for the presentation; council thanked staff for the update.
