Pool in urbanization

Contact your president or administrator - ours in PF is remaining closed until next phase is reached

Thanks for replies

Hi Nicola,

I wonder if you know how your president is managing to open the pool? We are a small community of 38 houses and there are only about 6 people here at the moment. I wanted to open our pool offering to clean all areas, allocate times for swimming etc,, but have been informed by the Administrators that the restrictions are too great. Complete disinfecting of all areas 3 times a day etc. They say that the cost of complying would be around an average of 3500€ a month, which is too much to pay without agreement at an AGM. All residents were sent an email giving the College of Administrators’ report. If there is a way I could open the pool I would love to know. If you have any info that would help I would be very grateful. Thanks.

We received a letter from our administrators who, after liaising with the president, have decided that the rules and regulations that must be met are not manageable, so the pool will remain closed

An extract from the letter is:

The Health Authority has established strict regulations to prevent infections of Covid-19 in Public Pools which are allowed to open in this Phase. Some of these regulations are as follows: 

-       Prior appointment is required to access the pool area and, therefore, shifts to use the poolhave to be established.

-       The maximum capacity allowed is 30%. In other words if the water surface of a pool is 45m2, only 6 people will be able to use the pool at the same time in order to respect the 2 meter security distance between people. 

-       The areas where users lay out their towels must be divided into spaces of 2m x 2m and marked with signs on the floor in order to respect the security distance between people. Also these spaces must be disinfected immediately after a user leaves the area.

 -       Disinfectant solutions for hands and shoes must be available at the entrance and it is highly recommended the use of exclusive footwear within the facility.

 -       The pool area must be disinfected at least 3 times a day, especially, gates, door handles, handrails, showers, push buttons, etc.

     There must be, for example, a Security Guard who controls the maximum capacity allowed, the security distance between people and the disinfection measures. (Estimated cost  € 3,000.00 per month).

      We have now confirmed that these regulations are extensible to Community Pools and, therefore, have to be applied. 

      Due to the expensive extra cost these measures imply and the difficulty to implement them, your President has decided to keep the facilities closed for the time being

Thanks Steve. As these rules are virtually unworkable for communities, the College of Administrators requested for them to be reviewed. This was denied by the government, so that was why I was wondering how Nicola’s pools were able to comply. Perhaps they have loadsa money 😂

Somehow, I doubt that even in stage 3, or the ‘near normal’ stage, there will be much change in the rules. ☹️

Many thanks.

Hi again Nicola,

Did you find out how your president is managing to maintain all the regulations? If the costs are high, it couldn’t be done without the homeowners’ agreement, and without an AGM which is not possible at the moment. I am dying to open our pool, but don’t expect much change in Phase 3, except perhaps capacity. I was surprised to read on Facebook that the Emerald Isle has opened it’s pool too. Thanks, Sheila

Hi Nicola,

Thanks for replying. I was sorry to read on here this week of the major work you had done on your spine. You must be screaming to get in the pool, as I am sure this would help you. You are a brave lady! With regard to the pool, we would not be able to afford that expenditure, and I would be happy to do the disinfecting and I think our community would be willing to comply with the capacity and distancing regs. We tend to respect other users anyway and everyone chooses their time to use the pool. I do hope that a more sensible approach can be achieved before the arrival of people coming on holiday. I don’t want to have to drain the pool, we have only just had it renovated, and the water does look lovely. As president, I think I should be able to give it a test run, ha ha I wish 🤗🏊‍♀️