Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round events are minimal. Tennis is open but it’s not like a country club where there’s activities for members all year long.

Which pools have tennis courts?

Arlington Forest does.

They are indoors.

I’m sorry I don’t understand that comment. The pool and tennis courts are outdoors at Arlington Forest aka AFC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round events are minimal. Tennis is open but it’s not like a country club where there’s activities for members all year long.

Which pools have tennis courts?

Arlington Forest does.

They are indoors.

Anonymous wrote:We belong to Dominion Hills and it saw a decent amount of waitlist movement last year since people turned down membership or rental offers during the pandemic, or people who had memberships and had been considering ending them used it as an opportunity to do so. I don't know about the others.

Also at Dominion Hills. There has been movement but the waitlist is still around 5 years. We love being able to walk to the pool and show up and the kids have friends there. DH may not be the nicest pool in Arlington but the proximity and friends there make it worth it to us.

We are selling our house and including our DH membership in the sale if the buyers want it. I don't know if other pools offer this as an option but that's one way to bypass the wait list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely choose the most convenient one.

We are at Overlee. There is very little turnover. The clubhouse isn’t used for much in the winter- pre covid there was a workout group that used it, and it is available for rent for parties and other events.

But what about if you are accepted in a further away pool club, and still a year or two away on your more convenient pool? No idea how fast waitlists will really turnover, especially with changes to COVID and moving.

We would lose the buy-in and initiation fee for the further away pool if we move to closer pool in a year or two, but I am very attracted by the bird in the hand being worth 2 in the bush.

It’s just a calculation that each family needs to do for itself. We’re about a mile from Overlee- an easy drive that we frequently make multiple times per day in the summer- going for swim practice or a meet, and then again to meet friends later or for a social event. Our kids can ride their bikes there. The convenience is worth a lot to us, but it’s just one of several factors that we considered when deciding on a pool to join. If it were a small, crowded, ill managed pool without a swim team we would have chosen differently. As far as the wait goes, I think an extra year or two would be worth it to me for a pool that I really like. PPs have a good point that another important factor to consider is whether your kids will have friends there. My kids see friends most of the time they go, either from the swim team or school. In fact they frequently don’t want to go unless they know that a friend will be there.

One that I don’t think I’ve seen mentioned is Virginia Highlands- depending on where you live in Arlington can be quite close. There are two pools and large deck area so handles crowds well, competitive swim team and faster wait less than the others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely choose the most convenient one.

We are at Overlee. There is very little turnover. The clubhouse isn’t used for much in the winter- pre covid there was a workout group that used it, and it is available for rent for parties and other events.

But what about if you are accepted in a further away pool club, and still a year or two away on your more convenient pool? No idea how fast waitlists will really turnover, especially with changes to COVID and moving.

We would lose the buy-in and initiation fee for the further away pool if we move to closer pool in a year or two, but I am very attracted by the bird in the hand being worth 2 in the bush.

Usually pools are fairly forthcoming about where you are on the waitlist. Although I think Overlee brought in a lot of new members last summer, and it may slow down this year (pure speculation on my part.)

How old are your kids, how much do you think you will use the pool? e.g. Overlee has 800 families and a nice facility (main pool, lap pool, social pool etc.) High Point Pool has 400 families, a nice social grill, a nice pool, a nice baby pool. I know tons of families at both. the HPP swim team is friendly and does a ton of social events. There is a lot of overlap between the swim team and pool socials, and it is easy to get involved and get to know people. There are lots of Nottingham/ Tuckahoe/ McKinley families.
Overlee is so much bigger- the swim team is uber competitive. It does not appear to 'unite' the pool in the same way that HPP does.
I know several families who were less involved at HPP, that switched to Overlee when their number came up. I also know several families that had gotten really involved at HPP and passed on the Overlee membership.
I also know a ton of families at Kent Gardens who are very happy there.

^^ we go almost every day

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building a pool in Arlington is not easy. If you are already on waitlists and don't have a contractor lined up, you'll probably get off those before you can have a pool in your yard, unfortunately.

Can you provide more details on this? My husband and I are interested in building a pool eventually. Is it a zoning issue? Lack of pool contractors?

All of the above. The county is difficult and there aren't a ton of pool contractors. Having lived through it, my advice would be (1) buy a house with a pool if that's an option or (2) start planning well in advance - you won't spend anything for quite awhile after you start the process.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's wrong with using the W-L or Wakefield pools?

Great for indoor lap swimming. Bad for enjoying a summer day lounging in the pool or having your children join a swim team.

Exactly. Waze and almost every day at the pool in the summer. Once the kids are teenagers it’s a great place for them to go to meet up with friends.

Anonymous wrote:What's wrong with using the W-L or Wakefield pools?

Great for indoor lap swimming. Bad for enjoying a summer day lounging in the pool or having your children join a swim team.

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely choose the most convenient one.

We are at Overlee. There is very little turnover. The clubhouse isn’t used for much in the winter- pre covid there was a workout group that used it, and it is available for rent for parties and other events.

But what about if you are accepted in a further away pool club, and still a year or two away on your more convenient pool? No idea how fast waitlists will really turnover, especially with changes to COVID and moving.

We would lose the buy-in and initiation fee for the further away pool if we move to closer pool in a year or two, but I am very attracted by the bird in the hand being worth 2 in the bush.

I was going to suggest Knights of Columbus, Highpoint or Woodley.

Arlington has an overcrowding problem that will only get worse with time, if you are looking for friends and a swim team it can be tough.

What's wrong with using the W-L or Wakefield pools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round events are minimal. Tennis is open but it’s not like a country club where there’s activities for members all year long.

Which pools have tennis courts?

Arlington Forest does.

Anonymous wrote:You won’t get into Overlee unless you’ve been on 10 years. If less than 5, forget about it. Just do knight of Columbus.

OP here, I have been on list for 10 years, they have said its coming up soon, just DH is lamenting last summer with nothing so hence planning our options.