Overland Park council considers fixes for therapy pool

A therapy pool in Overland Park may be replaced, thanks to dozens of residents who made waves.

The physical therapy pool at the Matt Ross Community Center was shut down in December, because of severe maintenance issues.

The eight-year-old Hydroworx pool, which features an underwater treadmill in water heated to 92 degrees, helped soothe a variety of ailments by relieving pressure on aching joints. Pool users ranged from elderly arthritis sufferers to injured teenage athletes.

After hearing arguments from several of those pool users at its meeting Monday evening, the city council is giving one last effort to see if a replacement will be feasible.

The governing body unanimously voted to direct the Community Development Committee to look over the financial details regarding the pool and come up with a recommendation for the council to consider at its March 16 meeting.

Although the council is interested in potentially saving the pool, many of the elected officials are not enthusiastic about the idea.

After all, replacing the pool would cost around $300,000, which would have to be taken out of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.

Out of the community center’s thousands of members, only around 150 of them use the one-of-a-kind facility.

“It is clear the pool has provided significant benefits, but the number of people who have benefited is very small,” said Councilman Paul Lyons. “I’m open to the possibility of replacing it if there is a good proposal, though.”

During their discussion, council members tossed around the idea of charging an additional fee to those who use the facility, in order to make up the cost of replacing and maintaining it.

But Councilman Terry Goodman said that in order to make up 100 percent of the cost, the additional fee would have to be around $250 per year, which some pool users might not be able to afford on top of their regular community center membership.

“I have empathy for your health issues, but empathy is not a decision-maker for me,” he told the pool users in attendance. “I see little use for creating false hope and I think that’s what we’re doing.”

Several residents insisted they wouldn’t mind paying such a fee, however. They said the Matt Ross facility is the only therapy pool open to the public in the Kansas City area, making it the city’s best-kept secret.

“I know this pool isn’t a money-maker, but it’s making a difference in people’s lives,” said Larry Yoksh. “It’s more than exercise, it’s helping people who are hurting.”

Dale Weber agreed.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how valuable this resource is — it benefits a lot of people with health conditions,” he said. “I suffer from terrible arthritis and using the treadmill in warm water has kept me pain-free.”

Goodman reminded the residents, however, that the therapy pool was installed at Matt Ross in 2007 with the belief there would be financial support from an area hospital, which didn’t happen. Also, the city did not anticipate the future maintenance issues at the time.

“If we knew what we know now about these problems, there probably wouldn’t be a therapy pool at Matt Ross,” he said.

Currently, because of the extraordinary cost to replace the pool, city staff is recommending to the city council that the therapy pool be replaced with two saunas in the same area.

Many of the pool users who attended Monday evening’s meeting hope the pool will stay, but they’re not optimistic.

“I’m disappointed because I feel like their minds were already made up,” said Katie Farcus, of Overland Park, who joined the Matt Ross Community Center specifically for the therapy pool. “I think by giving it to the CD Committee, they’re just killing time. It’s very frustrating.”

Others are clinging to hope.

“This pool is the jewel of Overland Park,” said Susan O’Connell, who has been using the facility since day one. “I just think the city needs to do a better job of marketing it to the people who need it. There are so many people out there who would benefit from this pool, they just don’t know it exists.”

The council is expected to decide the pool’s fate at its meeting on March 16.

This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 7:11 AM with the headline "Overland Park council considers fixes for therapy pool."