The Project Wide Advisory Committee has rendered a decision on the expenditure of more than $300,000 to install aquatic chairlifts at 34 swimming pools in The Villages.
PWAC members on Monday voted unanimously to install the lifts at the pools located south of County Road 466.
The committee heard from several residents about the physical challenges faced by them or their loved ones and the importance of exercising in the water.
“It seems like $340,000 is a lot of money. More than most of us paid for our homes,” said Barbara Gaines, of the Village of Calumet Grove, whose husband has multiple sclerosis and is in a wheelchair. “Look around. How many of your friends have had a heart attack, stroke or hip replacement in the time you have been here?”
Karen Daniels, of the Village of Gilchrist, also has MS and attended the PWAC meeting in her motorized scooter. She uses a pool chairlift about five times a week.
“Exercising in the pool is the best way to get exercise,” she said.
PWAC Chairman Peter Moeller, who has a brother with MS in New Jersey, said he understood the value of getting into the water for the type of exercise needed for those with that condition.
PWAC member Dennis Hayes pointed out that the Amenity Authority Committee has voted to install eight chairlifts at pools north of County Road 466. After the installation is complete, all pools under the AAC’s control will have chairlifts. In addition, the Developer is putting in chairlifts at all pools south of County Road 44, as required by the Americans with Disability Act. He argued that for the sake of “consistency” in The Villages, PWAC should move ahead with the chairlifts.
“I think we should just go ahead and do it,” he said.
PWAC will see some savings by buying in bulk before April 1, something the AAC agreed to last week.
