What should the new Maintalbad look like?

What offers will it make to visitors, clubs and schools?

Will it be able to compete with other spas in the region?

And most importantly, how expensive will it be?

City politicians and planners have been dealing with these questions for some time.

What is certain is that the old, aging pool will be demolished and a new one will be built on the same site.

In their meeting on Monday evening, the Maintal city councilors discussed what was, according to Mayor Monika Böttcher (non-party), the most important and largest Maintal investment project for the next few years and made important decisions.

Luise Glaser-Lotz

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Kinzig district.

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The Maintal indoor pool was opened in 1973, the outdoor pool followed a year later.

There have not been any fundamental renovations since then, although necessary renovations have cost several million euros over the course of time.

It is clear that the bathroom is past its best.

Not only the outdoor and indoor pools and the changing rooms have deficiencies, the technology such as ventilation and electrical systems also leave a lot to be desired.

A guarantee for weather-independent visitor numbers

After a feasibility study put the renovation costs at more than nine million euros, the demolition and new construction was finally a foregone conclusion in politics.

The Krieger Architects and Engineers office was commissioned, according to Böttcher a well-known company that has already built 260 bathrooms.

The three variants proposed by Krieger envisage a new indoor and a new outdoor pool, so that Maintal residents and visitors to the area could use the pool in any weather.

A tricky detail is an energy-saving "convertible roof".

When it opens, the energy-intensive ventilation system shuts down.

This not only saves energy, according to the town hall, the swimming pool can enable outdoor swimming on beautiful spring and autumn days, a guarantee for visitor numbers regardless of the weather, according to Krieger Managing Director Thomas Kalman.

Krieger Architects and Engineers were awarded the contract through the Europe-wide tendering process.

The design envisages an indoor and outdoor pool for swimmers, non-swimmers and paddling, about the size of today's pool.

The hall could be supplemented with a pool for swimming courses, which, according to operations manager Roland Allmannsdörfer, would make the pool more economical.

The full-time magistrate, consisting of Mayor Böttcher and City Councilor Karl-Heinz Kaiser (SPD), advocates a combination of this draft and a variant that emerged during the planning process.

The main points of this variant are the omission of a pure swimmer's pool in the outdoor pool, a diving board up to three meters high in the hall and the "convertible roof".

A larger non-swimmer pool and a paddling pool are planned outdoors.

The hall contains a teaching pool, a paddling pool and a pool for courses.

The cost is 27 million euros, seven million euros more than originally planned.

A sauna does not contain any of the variants

Another option would be cheaper.

In this case, the course pool would be dispensed with, as well as a lane of the swimmer's pool.

The additional costs are reduced by three million euros compared to the combination variant and would total 24 million euros.

A “basic requirements plan” for just under 18 million euros would also be possible.

It would offer an outdoor non-swimmer and paddling pool and an indoor swimmer, paddling and non-swimmer pool.

A sauna as it existed until 2007 does not contain any of the variants.

According to a decision by the city council, the option for this should be kept open for the future and the necessary areas should not be built on.

After numerous amendments, a proposal for the room plan, which, among other things, determines the size and nature of the pools and the water areas, found a majority.

After an amendment by the coalition of CDU, SPD and FDP, the commissioned planning office should now continue to pursue the combination variant.

A sports pool with four lanes in the outdoor pool, a water slide for year-round use and an outdoor diving pool should be considered as "optional elements" in the planning.

The decision on a "convertible roof" should be made in the course of further planning.

The hope that the new building could be erected while the current pool was still in operation was dashed.

Therefore, a decision had to be made about the construction process.

According to the magistrate's proposal, the best place for the new building is where the old building is located.

During the demolition and new construction at the usual location, the Maintalbad will not be available for about two years.

As alternatives, the magistrate suggested complete closure and a temporary hall construction over the newly built outdoor pool.

The first possibility was passed with an amendment by the FDP, which revealed considerable criticism of the Main-Kinzig district.

The magistrate should ask the district to allow school swimming in other swimming pools, according to the FDP.