A date has not yet been set when the construction of Poing's new school / teaching swimming pool will start.
But there is a new idea: a public bathing day.
Poing - Actually Poing should have had a new school / teaching swimming pool a long time ago.
On July 4, 2013 the local council decided unanimously to implement the project.
An initial cost estimate at that time was based on 3.5 million euros.
To this day nothing has come of it.
In its public meeting on Thursday evening, the local council has again passed a fundamental decision: Yes, the swimming pool is being built, plus a school canteen, which is urgently needed.
The latter is to be built first, the swimming pool afterwards - as an extension.
Poing: First school canteen, then swimming pool
The cost estimate now submitted by the administration looks as follows: around 8.5 million euros for the bathroom, around 3.5 million euros for the cafeteria.
Plus outdoor facilities, plus other options as well as risk protection and plus construction cost index makes the overall project a total of almost 15 million euros.
For this, the administration has calculated, the municipality could receive around 4.3 million euros in state funding.
Cost development from 3.5 to 15 million euros
It was exactly ten years ago, at the beginning of 2011, when the former school and teaching swimming pool in the old elementary school Karl-Sittler-Straße in Poing-Süd was closed due to structural and hygienic defects.
In 2013 the local council decided that a replacement should be built - in Poing-Nord, directly south of the Anni-Pickert-Schule.
At that time there was talk that the bathroom would cost around 3.5 million euros and could be opened in autumn 2017.
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A swimming pool and cafeteria are being built on the area south of the Anni Pickert School.
© Johannes Dziemballa
The Karl-Sittler-Straße primary school has now been rebuilt and is in operation - without a swimming pool.
This was no longer planned there from the beginning, but as a separate building at the Anni Pickert School.
Over the past few years, the local council has repeatedly readjusted the plans and, due to urgent needs, expanded it to include a cafeteria for the Anni Pickert School.
As a result, the cost estimates have continued to rise, and there was no mention of a cafeteria in 2013.
It was not until October 2018 that the municipal council decided to build it, which is to be connected to the swimming pool.
Swimming pool with a 25 meter long pool
The increase in costs for the bathroom itself is based in particular on improvements in the planning or extensions compared to the very simple model originally envisaged.
In December 2019, the municipal council decided on additional measures, such as a handicapped-accessible entry into the pool, a partial lifting floor with a drag, so that the water depth can be varied between 0 and 180 centimeters.
In addition, the 25-meter pool is not lined with tiles, but with stainless steel.
Most of the financial resources have already been planned
So now the costs for the swimming pool and cafeteria total almost 15 million euros.
Money that the municipality has already set and planned for the most part (12.7 million euros) in the budget or financial plan for the years 2021 to 2024.
The remaining 2.3 million euros must be reported in the following years from 2025 to 2029, explained Mayor Thomas Stark in the local council meeting on Thursday.
He estimates the annual operating costs for the swimming pool to be roughly 300,000 euros.
The local council unanimously decided on the following procedure: The cafeteria and swimming pool should now be further planned in detail.
The first thing to be built is the cafeteria, including preparation for a swimming pool.
When this will follow, the municipal council will decide separately - if (probably at the end of 2021) the budget situation for the coming years can be estimated.
Poing: All parliamentary groups are in favor of swimming pools
In the meeting on Thursday, speakers and representatives of all municipal council groups spoke out in favor of building the school / teaching swimming pool.
Swimming lessons, especially for children, are extremely important.
"It is part of a holistic education that children learn to swim," said Franz Langlechner (CSU).
He and Matthias Andres (FWG) emphasized: "Poing needs a swimming pool and Poing can afford a swimming pool." Bärbel Kellendorfer-Schmid (SPD) said: "We need the cafeteria, we want the swimming pool."
Not a fun bath, but a meaningful bath
Mayor Thomas Stark (independent) surprised at the meeting with his idea of opening the swimming pool to the public one day a week (with an entrance fee).
This had never been mentioned before, the bathroom was only intended as a teaching pool for school lessons and club sports.
Stark's proposal met with approval from all groups.
The mayor added that a bathing guard and a ticket booth are needed for a public bathing day.
The pool in the swimming pool should be 25 meters long and 12.5 meters wide.
Purely intended for swimming.
"We never wanted a fun pool", Stark, Kellendorfer-Schmid and Langlechner affirm in unison the concept that was envisaged from the start.
“We want a bathroom that makes sense,” said Franz Langlechner.
