History

History of the WPCRC Pool

1969 – The North Side Community Council passed a resolution calling for a North Side swimming pool and community center.

1974 – The Madison Park Commissioners recommended Mayor Soglin include a pool in his 1975 budget.

1989 – A pool study was completed and Warner Park was one of the sites recommended, along with Olin Turville. City officials selected Olin Turville Park for the first pool …without the support of the neighborhoods… a big mistake. What they ended up with was the Preservation of Shoreland Parks Ordinance and no pool.

1994 – City Council member, Alder David Wallner, proposed that Madison build a large pool at Warner Park. On January 13, 1994, Alders Dorothy Borchardt and Roberta Kiesow held a community meeting that included those opposed to the Olin Turville pool. The group was very supportive of the Warner Pool. Mayor Soglin supported building the Warner pool and would help raise money for it. The Northside Planning Council voted to endorse the Warner pool and did a feasibility study to see if they could raise the money to build the recreation center and the pool…they couldn’t do both … it was decided to do it in stages and that is where the pool sat for 20 years.

2004 -The Warner pool was on hold until the Goodman Brothers offered the City $2 million for a pool. A ten-member pool committee recommended Franklin Field for the first pool with the second pool at Warner Park. Mayor Cieslewiez put money in the City budget for the Warner Pool and the Circle of Friends (CoF) started raising funds for the Warner Pool.

2008 – Due to the tight financial situation the pool was removed from the city budget. We knew if we wanted to get a pool built it would have to be done without City or County funds; the CoF continued to raise funds for the pool and have over $190,000 in an endowment fund with the Madison Community Foundation.

2014 – The name was changed to Warner Park Health & Fitness Aquatic Center to better reflect how the facility will be used. In order for the pool to be financially independent it will have to be enclosed and competition sized to bring in swim teams to help cover operating cost. Our goal to provide affordable swimming lessons for all the youth in our community will not change.

2016 – 2017 – Fund raising for the Warner Park Aquatic Health & Fitness Center is on hold waiting for a letter of support from Mayor Paul Soglin. The CoF has proposed doing a financial feasibility study with the funds we have deposited with the Madison Parks Foundation. In order to move forward with the study, we need a letter from the Mayor in support of the project based on the CoF raising the funds and showing the Aquatic Center will be self-supporting. If the funds can be raised to build the aquatic center without any debt service, the facility will be self-supporting. If the report comes back saying at this time it can’t be done without city funding, the project will be back on hold. We will never know if it can be built if we don’t do the feasibility study. By not doing the feasibility study we could miss out on an opportunity for an economic generator that would provide jobs, affordable swimming lessons, rehab and fitness activities that will be an asset for the entire community.

2018 – In a letter dated April 23, 2018, Mayor Soglin gave his support to the CoF doing a feasibility study to evaluate the capital cost and the operating cost of the facility. The CoF contracted with Ramaker & Associates. The study should be completed by the end of the year. The capital and operating feasibility study was completed. The next step is to do a financial feasibility study to see if the funds can be raised to build the facility. McDonald Schaefer will start working with the CoF in February on planning the study.

2019 – After meeting with possible donors it was determined that there was no needed base donor, and we needed to downsize and try again.

2020 -2021 – COVID 2023 – The Madison Community Foundation will be releasing a $11,219 distributions to the WPCRC per the agreement that if the pool wasn’t built by 2023 the WPCRC would receive distributions that will be re-allocated back to the Warner Park Pool when it is fully operational. The CoF board is working with staff to determine how the funds will be allocated.

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Circle of Friends Charter Members

Below is the list of charter members who joined the Circle of Friends during out very first year and helped us take our first steps in our attempt to help bring a pool to Warner Park. We will forever be grateful to them for their assistance to us during that first year.