How much did you pay for a pool membership in North Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Patton Hall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NoVa has more pool options than close-in MoCo where most people would have to join a country club.

Our MoCo neighborhood pool has no waitlist if you live in town or in the two adjacent neighborhoods. $600 per adult member initiation fee, then a few hundred a year after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NoVa has more pool options than close-in MoCo where most people would have to join a country club.

Huh? MoCo has tons of public pools, and they're actually pretty nice. It's fun to try different ones as they have different features that keep it interesting for kids.

Agreed. There are a lot of neighborhood pools in Montgomery County. (I am on the board of one of the pools.)

However, I would not agree that "MoCo has tons of public pools." Unfortunately, MoCo has very few public pools relative to the population. The only 7 outdoor public pools in MoCo.

Having grown up in the Midwest, I found it kind of surprising to see how few public outdoor pools there were. In the Midwest (at least where I grew up), there were tons of outdoor public pools. In contrast, here in MoCo, the more common option seems to be a neighborhood pool. For example, the summer swim league in Moco includes over 80 pools, and over 70 of those pools are neighborhood pools.

The pools are allowed to restrict the pool membership to people in the neighborhood. As I understand it, I guess that otherwise these would be considered businesses (which would have to accept everyone), rather than neighborhood amenities.

Most neighborhood pools (of which I am aware) do not allow you to sell the membership or try to buy your way up the wait list. Instead, you must simply wait your turn, when a prior member decides to give up that household's membership.

Many pools that I know of are approximately $1000 per year.

Interesting that there are only 7 public ones in Moco. That's only counting the outdoor ones, as there are about an equal number of indoor ones. We go to Bethesda outdoor pool regularly, and the indoor one in Rockville on occasion. The outdoor ones in Silver Spring and Wheaton are fun for kids, and we go to those on occasion also. Excited about the indoor one opening in downtown Silver Spring in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this seems like financial segregation of pools.

Wait until you learn about the racial segregation that led to all these private pools to begin with.

[Anonymous]

PG Pool is $230/adult and $70/kid. Our waitlist is crazy long and I have no clue why others won't let in more people on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep segregated. Our pool Ft Myer swim team is the only team in Arlington in the Colonial league. NVSL didn’t want us because we are diverse and have always been so. Government employees can get a pool membership there. It’s open to all so North Arlington is allowed in. The membership is $750.00 no waiting list but you have to swim with military and south Arlington folks. Call 703 524 3037. Can also google Payton Hall pool.

You can join next year as non government if you join the swim team. It’s a way to get access to the pool.

Arlington Knights of Columbus is also a part of the Colonial League.

[Anonymous]

Long Bridge is super expensive for the yearly pass. Shockingly so for a county amenity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington does have public county pools, but they are indoors. Which to me, is a much better investment because they can be used year round. The 3 big high schools have pools and there is an aquatics center.

But yes, Virginia's history of public outdoors pools is an ugly one.

There are private options outside of Arlington too, but which one makes sense to you depend on where in the county you live.

And “family swim” is only 3 hours in the middle of the work day and costs $28 for a family of 4. Pretty sad for the little pool at W-L or Yorktown since it’s pretty deep in the lanes. I haven’t been to Longbridge yet because it’s on the opposite side of the county, but I heard you have to pay for parking.
My neighborhood pool is open until 7 or 9pm most evenings for a quick swim after camp or after dinner.

[Anonymous]

The only way to skip the line is to buy a house that comes with a pool membership. The membership cost, annual dues, and waitlist process are on the website of each pool. If you want a list of NoVa pools, check the NVSL website for swim teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this seems like financial segregation of pools.

Wait until you learn about the racial segregation that led to all these private pools to begin with.

PG Pool is the worst in the DMV. They were forced to desegregate in the 1970s via a lawsuit and didn't actually desegregate until decades later. Some think it's still a defacto segregated pool to this day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The history of those pools is absolutely rooted in segregation. Maybe it’s changed, but when I bought a home in south Arlington 10 years ago I looked up getting on the waitlist of Overlee ( i think). I wasn’t allowed to sign up, because my address wasn’t acceptable. I lived near Nauck at the time.
Serisouly.

I don’t think any of the private pools have neighborhoods that can’t join, but some do give waitlist preference to the neighborhoods within close proximity (at least one is near enough to SA that a number of neighborhoods are in the geographic preference area). We live in SA and had preference to Arlington Forest. I think the SE part of Arlington is out of luck because the only private pool in that area is part of the Army/Navy Country Club, which costs significantly more than the other private pool clubs that don’t include golf. There isn’t another private pool or pool/tennis club in that area. You’ll have the new aquatic facility close to you, but it’s indoors and the fees won’t be much that less expensive than the private pools in NA from what I have heard.

NP, but the history of private pools in the South (which VA definitely is), is rooted in Segregation. When public pools were no longer legally allowed to keep black people out, public pools closed and private pools opened - because the private pools could discriminate.

There's a reason there are so few public pools, and its not a nice one.

+1 This. Our extremely popular pool opened in the early 1950s.

Now it’s about economic segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this seems like financial segregation of pools.

These pools are a legacy of desegregation. White people didn’t like public facilities being desegregated so they built private membership pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this seems like financial segregation of pools.

These pools are a legacy of desegregation. White people didn’t like public facilities being desegregated so they built private membership pools.

Oops, should have read the white thread before posting a redundant comment. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The history of those pools is absolutely rooted in segregation. Maybe it’s changed, but when I bought a home in south Arlington 10 years ago I looked up getting on the waitlist of Overlee ( i think). I wasn’t allowed to sign up, because my address wasn’t acceptable. I lived near Nauck at the time.
Serisouly.

Overlee is open to all of Arlington (plus Falls Church and McLean), so that wasn’t the one you’re thinking of.

I live in 22205 and am white and was not allowed on the wait list about 12 years ago. They said the list was too long. We joined Tuckahoe in McLean and haven't regretted it. Such a nice year round facility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The history of those pools is absolutely rooted in segregation. Maybe it’s changed, but when I bought a home in south Arlington 10 years ago I looked up getting on the waitlist of Overlee ( i think). I wasn’t allowed to sign up, because my address wasn’t acceptable. I lived near Nauck at the time.
Serisouly.

Overlee is open to all of Arlington (plus Falls Church and McLean), so that wasn’t the one you’re thinking of.

I live in 22205 and am white and was not allowed on the wait list about 12 years ago. They said the list was too long. We joined Tuckahoe in McLean and haven't regretted it. Such a nice year round facility.

Weird we got on waitlist less than 10 years ago and have been members for 4 years, are you sure you understood how the waitlist worked?

The regional water parks are nice, we love Water Mine, and Uptown Hills is closest to Arlington certainly closer than Tuckahoe to 22205, but I guess you also preferred a private club? For year around, Tuckahoe has tennis courts - do they have indoor courts or a year round clubhouse? I do wish the pools offered more year round socializing, and Overlee has no tennis but has an amazing underused clubhouse.