As Swim Teams Flourish, So Does Conflict Over Limited Pool Space

It is a quintessentially Southern California tale, this struggle over water rights.

But instead of developers fighting farmers for the precious liquid, growing numbers of fitness enthusiasts, young swimmers and water polo players are battling to see who gets their feet wet first and for how long.

Because the number of pools being built for competitive programs has lagged far behind the demand, youth swimming teams across the Southland are increasingly turning to homeowners associations in upscale suburban developments, often tying up community pools during prime hours.

That hasn’t always sat well with dues-paying association members.

In the Canyon Crest enclave of Mission Viejo, a handful of lap swimmers a few years ago circulated petitions forcing the homeowners association to move youth team workouts from the more desirable mornings to afternoons. Even though the practice times were changed, today if someone wants to swim laps, in most cases the team must give up a lane.

At Harbor View Homes in Newport Beach, UC Irvine swim coach and aquatics director Charlie Schober has watched tensions build over the last eight summers while he coached the neighborhood swim team.

“Community members were concerned [about whether] they would have enough time in the pool,” Schober said. “The problem is, it’s not a backyard pool that belongs to any one person.”

And in Irvine’s genteel Turtle Rock area, where community pools and shared recreational facilities were intended as neighborhood glue, one resident has sued, complaining that the Turtle Rock Sharks’ practices make it hard for her to swim laps in the summer.

Petty? Some have said so, especially the poolside parents of future Olympians. But when homeowners pay big bucks for such recreational facilities, is it unreasonable for them to expect their time in the water?

“With these types of private facilities, people are very possessive,” said Ken Willis, president of the League of California Homeowners. “It’s conceivable that in making such decisions, you make a decision that imposes on the freedom of dues-paying members.”

In Los Angeles’ 55 city-operated pools, too many people routinely compete to swim during the same hours. Complaints, if not lawsuits, arise when people think there are too few lanes open for laps, or when an oblivious young swimmer strays into the lap area and collides with an adult.

“With so little water and so many users, it’s kind of like the Serengeti watering hole in the middle of the drought season,” said John Vowels, Los Angeles’ principal recreation supervisor for aquatics. “You have the crocodile, the lion and the zebra all competing to have a drink of water. It’s total friction.”

Still, those conflicts don’t reach the same pitch as battles involving elite swim teams, in part because only a fifth of L.A.’s municipal pools are open year-round, and many weren’t configured for competitive swimming.

The backbone of competitive swimming is the private clubs, whose programs start children swimming in preschool and can turn them into Olympians in their teens. Since 1985, the number of people in swim club programs has jumped from fewer than 7,000 to at least 17,000, said Mary Jo Swalley, executive director of Southern California Swimming in Santa Barbara, which governs the sport in the region. An additional 10,000 to 20,000 swim in summer leagues.

With more children crowding the pools, there are “a lot of teams that can’t take more athletes, because they don’t have any place for them to practice,” Swalley said.

The problem is a regional one, but conflicts are heightened in more recently developed areas where homeowners associations are plentiful. In Orange County, which spawned champions Greg Louganis, Janet Evans and Amanda Beard, competition is particularly keen.

In the past, swim clubs could depend on high school pools--both in older urban areas and across suburbia. Nowadays, Swalley said, those facilities are crowded year round with their own teams--men’s water polo in the fall, women’s water polo in the winter and swimming in the spring.

Experts say the astonishing growth of women’s water polo has exacerbated the shortage.

Pool pressure could get worse in Irvine when the only city-owned pools--the three at Heritage Park--are closed for renovation in the next year or so. More than 10 teams swim at the park, where pools are nearly always filled with an organized activity.

“[Pool space] has been an ongoing problem, and it has existed for a long time,” said Cynthia Dickson of the aquatic management staff. “As the community grows--and there’s more need for aquatic programs and no aquatic pools are being built--you’re going to get a crunch.”

Is there a solution to such escalating demand? Building more pools is one, but they are hugely expensive. Even when their construction has been underwritten for major competitions in some cities, upkeep can strain budgets.

Meanwhile, conflict is likely to intensify across the Southland.

“These people have a right to complain,” said Jim Lessee, Irvine Swim League president. “But they . . . have to look into their own hearts, and maybe have to give up a little for the greater good.”

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Times staff writers Kate Folmar and Sandy Yang and correspondent Eric Sanitate contributed to this story.