We are excited to announce that our Village Green volunteers were able to get the pool ready and pass inspection in just 10 days! Truly amazing! THANK YOU to all that had a hand in helping out!
As we mentioned previously, we will be self managed this year but are still required to have certified lifeguards and a City of Newport News certified pool operator running our pool. We will require help from volunteers in order to give our pool manager and pool operator (both of which are volunteers) breaks from time to time. More info on that to come later…
Now to answer your questions and prepare you for the pool season…
How can you help us with the pool?
- Follow all mandates and pool rules put in place.
- Volunteer.
- Find us certified lifeguards by sharing this link on social media and with friends/family.
- Become a VGCA pool member.
- Be supportive/understanding to VGCA and our volunteers as we all are in uncharted waters.
- Continue to practice social distancing while at the pool or in the park.
- Be flexible with us and understand we are all trying to adapt to the “new normal” and self manage the pool for the first time in many years.
When will the pool open? We plan to open from 1-8pm on Wednesday, June 17th. A sign up process is being put into place to ensure that we stay within the capacity limitations for Phase 2. You will not be able to walk into the pool area without first reserving a time slot online. Sign ups for each week will begin each Sunday at 7pm and can be done here. Once Phase 2 restrictions are lifted, we will remove the requirement to reserve a time slot.
What will be the cost for membership? Pool membership rates will remain the same this year and that information can be found at https://vgnn.org/join. Whether we are self managed or managed by a pool company, the costs for operating a pool for the summer is between $18K and $25K due to chemicals, water, and lifeguards. We typically have 75 households join which puts us in the $20K range for available funds. In years past, HRA helped offset some of the costs but we will not have that this year. So, your membership is needed and appreciated to keep our pool running now and in the future.
Will there be a VG Swim Team this year? No BUT we plan on having a Village Green Swim Team Boot Camp with Coach Amy beginning June 29 and running for 4 weeks (Mon-Fri 10am-12:30pm). More info on this will be coming soon. We also plan to have at two intra-squad swim meets.
What will be the pool hours? Due to limited certified lifeguards, we will be opened Wednesday through Sunday (closed Monday and Tuesday) at this point. As staffing levels fluctuate we might be able to add Tuesday back in or may need to cut operating hours further. There will be no HRA on Tuesdays and Thursdays this year.
How will social distancing and safety be accomplished? We will follow all local and State orders with regards to operating our pool and will consider all recommendations on pool operations provided by the CDC. We have worked closely with our pool inspector for the Peninsula Health Department and will be implementing the following to stay within the requirements/limitations for Phase 2:
- A maximum of 50 people are allowed in the pool area so an online registration for 2 hour blocks of time will be required to limit the number of guests in the pool area as well as in the pool.
- Patrons must indicate the following via the online reservation for all attending in the household group (any positive answer and they are not permitted to make a reservation):
- Do you have any of the following?
- Fever (100.4 or higher) now or within the past 24 hours.
- Shortness of breath or cough
- Chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or other flu-like symptons
- Are you ill or caring for someone who is ill?
- In the past 2 weeks have you been in contact with someone who has COVID-19 or have you or a household member visited a high risk area where COVID-19 is spreading?
- We will have 5 lanes in the shallow end that can be reserved as part of the 2 hour block.
- All participants in pool activities must maintain a 10 foot distance from all others. This includes family members. However, an exception is granted for participants who are monitoring/aiding small children. If a child cannot swim by himself/herself an adult is allowed to break the 10 foot distance guideline.
- Patrons not in the same household must maintain 10ft of social distancing on deck as well as in the pool.
- Use of the pool during Phase Two is for exercise only, not recreational swimming. VGCA understands that exercise comes in many different forms and what it looks like in action will vary greatly from person to person — we will provide some guidance on this in another post.
- The deep end will only be used for diving activities from the diving board. No games or free swimming in the deep end. Only 3 divers are allowed in the diving area at a time. While waiting to dive, a physical distance of 10 feet per diver must be maintained which is marked by an X on the concrete.
- Cleaning/disinfecting all high touch points every two hours is required. This includes but is not limited to railings, gates, door knobs, bathroom touch points, and furniture.
- Furniture has been pre-staged on the pool deck with 10ft areas closed off to allow for the mandated 10ft of social distancing inside a pool area.
- Baby pool will available for reservation and 10ft of social distancing must be maintained there as well for patrons not in the same household. Again, parents assisting little ones can break the 10ft social distancing rule.
- Patrons that do not follow the mandates of Phase 2 will be asked to leave and upon the 2nd infraction will be referred to the VGCA Board for further action which could lead to revoking of pool privileges.
- Balls and shared pool items are prohibited.
- Patrons are not required to wear face coverings/masks while on deck but it is encouraged. Patrons must not wear face coverings/masks while in the pool.
- Lifeguards and other pool volunteers are required to wear masks while on deck in customer facing situations. Lifeguards are not required to wear masks while in the lifeguard stand.
- Only one person in a bathroom at at time.
- Hand sanitizer stations have been provided. Please use one pump per sanitizing.
- Showers are required before entering the pool.
- CDC designed signage with regards to COVID-19 has been posted.
As things change in Virginia, the VGCA Board will review and make the appropriate decisions on restrictions/practices we have in place.
Please be understanding as this is the first year we have self managed in a quite some time. Nearly 80% of the respondents to the pool survey back in May indicated they wanted the pool opened. The VGCA Board felt opening was the best solution for the neighborhood as well as the pool and could provide an outlet for many of us. We will continue to work as hard as we have over the past few weeks to improve the overall process and to make things as enjoyable as possible under the circumstances but within the mandates.
