photo by: City of Lawrence

This rendering shows the basic "preferred concept" design for the proposed renovation to the Outdoor Aquatic Center. The City Commission is scheduled to vote on a design on Tuesday night .

Over 1,400 people have signed a petition asking the Lawrence City Commission to alter the design it approved for the renovation of the Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center and find a way to retain the current space of the pool instead.

The design for the renovation, which was approved in August, will add additional features like a lazy river, splash pad and shallow pool, but the total water recreation area area will be 16,000 square feet — about a 3,000-square-foot reduction from the pool’s current layout, and includes the 2,300 square foot splash pad, which further reduces the space to swim.

The approved renovation, which is estimated to cost about $6.1 million, will keep the existing deep dive pool, a 25-meter section of the lap pool and the water slide and plunge pool on the complex’s west side.

Holly Krebs, one of the organizers of the petition, said she and other people who used the pool were worried about the decrease in pool area. Krebs said the plan would remove a section of the pool used for open swim that is about 4,800 square feet, and she felt a need to speak out against the shrinking of the pool.

“It made me question if the city was going in the right direction for the renovation,” Krebs said.

Krebs said the group will write letters to the commissioners and plans to give a series of public comments during an Oct. 1 commission meeting. Cori Wallace, a spokesperson for the city, told the Journal-World the petitioners have spoken with the Parks and Recreation team involved with the renovation project and had a “productive discussion” last Monday.

Cathy Hamilton, another person helping organize the petition, said eliminating that much swimming area will make it really difficult for lap swimmers who use the pool many mornings. Hamilton said it is already pretty consistently hard to get a lane to swim in as it stands, and they are often doubled up.

Hamilton said she also sees seniors using the other parts of the pool area outside of the lane lines as a way to rehab from injuries or do other forms of aquatic fitness. She feels things will just get more crammed with the current plan.

“To lose all that open swim area I think is really foolish,” Hamilton said.

In a statement to the Journal-World, Luis Ruiz, the Parks and Recreation Department director said the city is continuing to review and consider feedback from lap swimmers. He added the city had met with several swim teams in public meetings and focus groups about those concerns.

Since the Indoor Aquatic Center opened in 2002, it became the city’s main venue for swim meets, meaning the Outdoor Aquatic Center did not need a 50 meter long pool for meets. When commissioners asked Ruiz back in August the lap pool area was being reduced from the current 50-meters to 25-meters, he told commissioners they explored keeping that pool at 50 meters, but it would have cost “a lot more money.” The reduction of that area is a big reason for the loss in aquatic space.

Although it is the designated place for recreational lap swimmers, Krebs said that area is so much more. She said that part of the pool that’s going away is where a majority of people swim. Whether it’s a grandparent swimming with their grandkids, eight year-olds playing and doing handstands or where a parent takes their toddler to float in a life jacket, Krebs believes taking away that section takes away the heart of the space.

“It’s this perfect area of the pool that invites everyone of all ages to be in that space,” Krebs said.

Note: This story was edited to clarify the breakdown of recreational space after renovations.