Hi Folks,

It has been brought to the attention of your Resident Board Members that there is a great deal of rumor and/or confusion regarding discussions concerning pool usage. This e-mail is intended to help clarify the situation.

The discussions range from security issues and restroom facility access, to pool hours, resident usage of the pools, guest usage, and ages of children permitted to swim in them. It should be noted that all of our pool policies are reviewed from time too time, and this review is timely because we shortly will have a new facility, the Hidden Cypress Golf and Recreation Center (Argent III).

Last week, we got an opportunity to tour the construction site for the new Hidden Cypress Clubhouse and Recreation Center. Wow! This new facility is unlike anything we have here. It will bring together a golf pro shop, a full service restaurant, a state of the art fitness facility, "quiet" meeting space, a "resident" kitchen and a fabulous outdoor pool with lap lanes and a deep water space. The new facilities and our population growth-a Sun City population in the not too distant future of in excess of 12,000 residents-suggest that we need to review the rules concerning all of our amenities, and the pools in particular.

The addition of the Hidden Cypress pool will provide more diverse aquatic features and we have to decide how to use them. The Hidden Cypress pool will have lap lanes suitable for year round use as well as deep water space suitable for water aerobics. The Barataria pool at Town Square is the most "child friendly" of our pools and is also best suited for those with physical challenges. The Riverbend pool is more "conventional" in design and also accommodates water aerobics. Of course, the indoor pool accommodates lap swimming, water exercise and is "child friendly" and accommodates all of these year round.

As we consider what changes might be appropriate, here are some of the questions we're asking ourselves: (1) With the population shift toward the western end of the community, does it make sense to require these residents to transport their grandchildren all the way to Riverbend on alternate days in order to swim? (2) What's the most effective way to provide staff monitoring of the pools during children's swim? (3) What is the most "resident friendly" way to enforce pool rules, including age restrictions, which are already in place to protect the health and safety of everyone? (4) What is the best way to control access to our pools so that they are not available to "unwanted" guests, that is people from outside the community who waltz in here and use them?

We've asked the Fitness Advisory Committee to look at these issues and, ultimately, to recommend appropriate policies to the Board of Directors. This is why they, and the various other "advisory" committees exist, that is, to recommend policies to the board. It is not, however, the only input we will seek. We have solicited input from the CAM staff. We'll use these Board Updates, our Town Meeting in November, and a Board of Directors Meeting to get your input. It is the job of the Board of Directors to make decisions like these based on appropriate input, our needs and our changing environment.

We take our mission to preserve, protect and enhance the Sun City Hilton Head lifestyle very seriously. We want to be a "guest friendly" community. But our first obligation is to our residents and their convenience, comfort, safety and health are a priority.

Stay tuned. There's more to come on this subject.

Jerry