Fitness center's plan to close pool upsets some members who use it

The pool is a money loser and damages the building, the club's owner says.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Club South fitness center is doing away with its pool next month, and that has upset some members who use it.
But club owner Lance Owens says there are business reasons for closing the pool, which will happen Jan. 15. He said the club has reserved the right to do it.
Ralph Ambrosia, a 14-year member at the club, said he renewed his membership Dec. 8 for next year, then found out the next day the pool would be closing. He said he was hoping to get his money back.
Ambrosia, who is 68, said the pool closing is going to affect mostly older people who use it for therapeutic reasons.
Health insurance pays for some of those memberships through a program called Silver Sneakers, he said.
Owens said that there are about 30 people who have an aquatics-only membership. Those people, he said, will get pro-rated refunds once the pool closes.
Ambrosia has a full membership to the club.
He said that some other members bought two- and three-year memberships to get better rates, and they've just renewed them.
What club will do
Owens said the club will sell Ambrosia's membership for him if he calls and gets his name on a list with about 55 other people who have also indicated they would like their memberships to be sold. Owens said the club is not obligated to do that, but it will for full members if they can prove they have a genuine need for the pool.
Owens said Ambrosia and others who joined under a previous owner have a much lower yearly membership rate, which Club South has honored.
He called it "short-sighted" to give up that rate because there isn't going to be a pool.
Owens said he decided to close the pool because it is a money-loser and is damaging the building.
He said that less than 1 percent of the club's 4,500 members use the pool, and it costs 5,000 a month for water, electricity to run the pumps, gas for the heater, chemicals, maintenance and payroll.
He said that when the pool was built 25 years ago, the system that removes humidity wasn't installed right, and the humidity is ruining the ceiling above the pool. He also said that once the humidity is out of the building, the club will be a healthier environment.
He said that the pool area will be converted to an expanded weight room and redesigned cardio area.