FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Last Updated: 17 Jun 2011
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What is the Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation?
The Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation is a California Non-Profit Public Benefit
Corporation and a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity. The purpose of the Foundation is to facilitate the
operation, maintenance and/or building of a year-round Community Aquatics Center on the North Coast of San
Luis Obispo County.
To fully understand our mission,
vision and goals we encourage you to review our
bylaws.
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What is the Foundation working towards?
Year-round swimming for the North Coast community.
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What about building a Community Aquatics Center?
Our intention in April, 2011 was to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding agreement between
the City of Morro Bay, the County of San Luis Obispo and the San Luis Coastal
Unified School District to work together collectively to build and maintain a
Community Aquatics Center that will serve the North Coast community and visitors,
as well as the Morro Bay High School students. Unfortunately, now is not a good time for any of
the Partners to move forward on a pool project given the economic realities faced by their agencies.
Given this, the Partners have decided that it is in our best interest, for now, to put the project
on hold until the financial picture changes, but promised to stay open to participating in a future
Community Aquatics Center project when that occurs.
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Your Foundation purpose includes the statement that you are here to raise
funds to also “support the operation of a year–round community aquatics
center on the North Coast of San Luis Obispo County” – what
exactly do you mean?
Thank you for noticing this part of our purpose. We believe by including the key words “and/or operation
of a year–round community aquatics center” it helps our Foundation to broaden our mission to
include our commitment to preserve and enhance existing community aquatics programs.
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So what is the Foundation doing to help existing local pools?
On September 9, 2009 at our annual open meeting, we launched our
“S.ave
O.ur
S.wimming
for Community… Access because Community Matters!” campaign. The
community has voiced a strong concern that year-round swimming opportunities are being cut back and are less
accessible than ever before. Our Foundation is poised to help with a commitment to preserve and enhance
existing aquatic programs. Our goal is to be a partner in helping to increase the community's participation at
all of our local pools by raising awareness and funding for each of the programs. The Foundation's current
focus is to support Cuesta College's Community Aquatics Program, and our County pool programs in Cayucos and
Cambria. Your commitment of support as a donor or active volunteer will help ensure that our local pools will
be available for recreational swim each summer, and accessible to the community year-round! Please help the
Foundation ensure that all water exercise enthusiasts have the opportunity to train, exercise, rehabilitate,
and play by diving in and donating your dollars and time!
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Is something special happening at Hardie Pool in Cayucos this Summer?
As it so happens we are excited to announce
that our Foundation is sponsoring free weekend lap swimming at Hardie Pool in Cayucos beginning June 4th!
Dive in on us… 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday. Our sponsorship provides you with free lap
swimming every weekend this summer through August 28th.
Because of the fundraising support of the Community of Cayucos and the Cayucos Lioness Club, and
the cooperative partnership with County SLO Parks, we are also excited to sponsor free aqua
aerobics, Tuesday–Friday from Noon – 1 p.m., June 21st–24th
and Tuesday–Friday from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m., June 28th–August 19th.
If you would like to see more programs like this sponsored by the Foundation please donate to the cause now!
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Los Osos has already raised some money for a swimming pool – why is the Foundation
interested in a pool on the North Coast?
The Los Osos Community Pool Association was formed in 1993 to build a community pool in Los Osos.
The Morro Bay High School pool, which also served the Morro Bay community, was closed in 1999.
At present, there is no year-round community pool on the North Coast.
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What is the status of the Los Osos swimming pool project? Didn't they already
do a feasibility study that the Foundation can use?
The Los Osos Community Pool Association commissioned an Aquatics Needs Assessment Survey
which was completed on May 29, 2010. They wanted
to know if the community wanted a pool to be built in Los Osos or Morro Bay. As it
turns out the results of the Study showed that
the majority of respondents wanted the community pool to be built in Morro Bay.
Click to download a copy of the
2010 Estero Bay Aquatics Survey Summary.
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Who else is involved with the Foundation?
The Foundation is moving forward by seeking letters of support and looking to attain
private/public partnerships interested in supporting year-round swimming opportunities on the North Coast –
especially with our existing pools, Cuesta, Hardie (Cayucos) and Shamel (Cambria).
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How will the Foundation raise money for a Community Aquatics Center on the North Coast?
As mentioned above, we began in November 2008 by launching our First Lap Campaign
to raise awareness and money for what we consider to be a worthy community project. We believe that
North Coast families are known to be charitable and caring, and open to the possibilities. Thus, the
Foundation believes this is an opportune time for all of us
to make an investment in our community's future. We will also be applying for
grants from public and private entities.
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What is the timeline for a Community Aquatics Center to be built on the North Coast?
Ideally, once the money is raised, we anticipate that this project could take three to seven years to complete –
design, permits, build and then open.
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What sites have been considered for the location of the community aquatics center?
In years past, the City of Morro Bay has studied the following locations: 220 Atascadero Road,
231 Atascadero Road, Coleman Park, other existing city parks, and other vacant parcels. The School
District has also considered: the back of Morro Bay High School campus by the football field; and, the
front lot along Highway 1 bordering on Morro Bay High School property. Other suggestions included: the
field area adjacent to Morro Bay Community Center and the old Morro Elementary School as well as the
Grange property off of Highway 41. In 2003 the Morro Bay Recreation and Parks Commission recommended the
Morro Bay High School site as the preferred site for a community pool in Morro Bay.
A piece of property has been under consideration in Morro Bay.
However, we are always open to looking at remodel projects for existing pools on the North Coast.
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We have heard that there is another group that is interested specifically in building a pool
at the Morro Bay High School that may have public access. If this is the case, will the
Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation work with that group on this endeavor?
The group disbanded in December 2010 and donated the remainder of their funds to our Foundation.
The School District is no longer considering a pool at the High School because
they are planning to install solar panels in their parking lots, which was the
location that this pool group had wanted to put the pool. Our mission is to facilitate the maintenance,
operation, and/or building of a year-round Community Aquatics Center on the North Coast of San Luis
Obispo County. That mission commits the Foundation to work with
organizations, groups and potential partners who are also interested in community pools, and that
they support the right of the members of our community who are not in curriculum based programs to have
priority access to the pool(s) for recreation, general fitness and physical rehabilitation. In order to
deviate from this, our Foundation would have to change the mission on which it was founded.
It is important that the Foundation only enters into partnership agreements meeting such criteria.
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Will this be a year round facility?
The community pool we would like would include having it available twelve months a year,
seven days a week, as well as open most holidays.
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How is the Foundation addressing the current downturn in the economy – will that change
your plans of building a Community Aquatics Center on the North Coast?
When we first started our quest to find out if it was feasible to build a pool
on the north coast, we could not have anticipated this major downturn of the
economy or the impact it would have on our communities. For this reason, along
with a current reorganization of the Foundation, our top priority has been to
adapt the Foundation's strategic plan to the current economic conditions.
Please see the question and response above regarding our
S.O.S. campaign.
With our S.O.S. campaign, we directed our energies towards working on a strategy that addressed
these critical community issues.
This included looking at the specific steps
we needed to take to build a year-round Community Aquatics Center on the North Coast, as
well as consider how our Foundation could help preserve and/or enhance our
existing local community pools. We recognize that one of the primary concerns
for North Coast swimmers is the current economic conditions. Public agencies
have been faced with the reality of closing and/or downsizing public use opportunities from Cuesta College
to Cambria due to budget constraints. The Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation
would like your help to work with these agencies to assure swimming
opportunities are available each year for recreational swimming, youth swim lessons, lap swim and
water aerobic programs.
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So what is the Foundation's focus? To build a pool or to save our swimming?
Our Board of Directors believes that both are possible. But, it is going to take time, energy, money,
volunteers and your support to make this possible. Saving our swimming is about now, building a pool
is about the future. We want to do what we can to ensure that you have swimming opportunities available
– your financial support to the Foundation now will make that possible.
It will take millions of dollars to see the dream of a new aquatics center become a reality.
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This sounds like an exciting grass-roots effort by the Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation. What ways
can I get involved?
We need volunteers. Qualifications Needed: Email Savvy, Ability to Work
Well with Other Pool Enthusiasts, Interest in Fundraising and Leadership
Experience.
The Foundation currently has several committees that
are seeking interested volunteers: Finance; Fundraising;
Public Relations; Planning & Design and Community Outreach.
If you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunites please feel free to call our voice mail
number at 805.772.9019 and we will get back to you. You can also contact us via the
Contact Us
link.
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How can I donate to the pool project?
You can make a donation securely through Pay Pal, which accepts MasterCard, VISA,
and/or American Express.
Or, you can send a check or money order to:
Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation
P.O. Box 2008
Morro Bay, CA 93443-2008
The Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation is a California Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation made up
of all volunteers. No salaries are paid. We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity. Your contribution
is tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Please consult your tax advisor for all
tax advice. Non-Profit Tax ID Number: 26-3357532.
Please check back for further updates to these Frequently Asked Questions.