A member of the Amenity Authority Committee believes residents have lingering doubts about a recent study which showed that the problem of “outsiders” taking a dip in the pools in The Villages is virtually non-existent.

AAC member Don Deakin at Wednesday’s meeting at Savannah Center challenged the validity of the recent study by the Recreation Department. Deakin based his challenge on the many residents who have questioned the fact that the information was sought during the relatively chilly months of November and December. Deakin raised the same issue before the study was conducted.

As he did earlier this week before the Project Wide Advisory Committee, Recreation Director John Rohan presented the AAC with the version of the study at pools north of County Road 466. Four pools were studied in the AAC’s portion of The Villages. The pools that were examined were the Soulliere, Summerhill, Rio Grande and Cordoba. During the study, 564 resident IDs and 38 guest IDs were scanned by Staff. There were three cases of resident non-compliance (0.53 percent of residents) and 2 cases of guest non-compliance (5.26 percent of guests). These numbers amount to a 0.83 percent non-compliance rate across resident and guest users, according to the Recreation Department.

But Deakin said residents are questioning the validity of those numbers.

“I feel the residents are still questioning you, John,” Deakin said. “I think we need to respect their concerns.”

Villager Patsy Oburn pointed out that the Developer has personnel checking IDs from opening until closing at Priority Pools in The Villages.

“If it’s good enough for the Developer, it should be good enough for the residents,” Oburn said.

AAC member Donna Kempa said she believes in the data and appeared weary of chasing phantom pool crashers who only seem to exist in residents’ anecdotes.

“Do we need to spend money on something that our studies have told us is not a problem?” Kempa asked.

The AAC ultimately opted to follow PWAC’s lead and begin using Community Watch to backstop ID checks at pools.

Do you believe the pool usage data gathered by the Recreation Department? Share your thoughts at [email protected].