Watersafe Swim School is moving from Seal Beach to Long Beach.
Grandchildren of past students now attend the swimming school. The owner said many customers walk to their lessons. Many students have gone on to be competitive swimmers and some have returned to the school as instructors.
A notice on the Watersafe website said: “Later this year, our Seal Beach location will be moving just 4 miles down the road to 2220 Clark Avenue, Long Beach. All schedules will stay the same. We will keep you updated with all details as they are available.”
Owner Ginny Ferguson said the Seal Beach facility would close on the same day the new facility opens.
“We were supposed to be finished by August but I expect it will be September if we’re lucky,” Ferguson said.
She said her old customers would get their old time slots with their old instructors.
The reason for the move: Parking.
Watersafe leased parking space from St. Anne’s Church.
But the lease has expired.
“St. Anne will need all the parking spaces on its property to accommodate the increase in participation in its parish programs and plan the launch of new programs,” wrote Jarryd Gonzales, director of Communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
According to Gonzales, parking was added to the church in 1943 and expanded in 1962 to its current size.
“Starting in 1983, the parish allowed the swim school to use the church parking lot at times that don’t conflict with the church’s parking needs, and for most of that time, at no cost whatsoever, or for these last five years, at a nominal cost,” Gonzales wrote.
“The church has continued to extend our lease,” Ferguson said.
“Despite the expired agreement, the swim school made three requests over the past year to continue parking in the parish lot. Each time, the parish has been accommodating in an effort to support the swim school’s building and business relocation plans. St. Anne is committed to providing parking to the swim school until they complete their move to Long Beach,” Gonzales wrote.
Ferguson said they offered the church more rent, but the church said no.
Nathan Najarian, a director at Watersafe, said the school first got the news about the lease in January 2023.
“We started looking for other places to park,” Ferguson said.
They also began looking for another place for the school.
“The closest place that we found was in Long Beach,” Ferguson said. “It’s taken a long time to get permits.”
Najarian said they contacted the city of Seal Beach in January 2024.
“The city said if we wanted to continue our conditional use permit, we had to find our 12 spaces,” Najarian said.
“There wasn’t really any assistance; it was direction,” Najarian said.
“And that was it. There were no other alternatives or solutions,” Najarian said.
City officials had a different account.
“Watersafe Swim School was unable to renew their parking arrangement with St. Anne’s Church, and the City could not legally waive the conditions of their Conditional Use Permit (CUP), nor the original requirements of the Coastal Commission,” Kalmick wrote in a recent email.
“Since the school became aware of St. Anne’s not renewing the lease several months ago, City Staff has made several efforts to assist them in finding another arrangement, but to no avail. It is sad that Watersafe will be leaving Seal Beach for a new location in Long Beach,” Kalmick wrote.
Capt. Nicholas elaborated on the city’s perspective.
“As a part of the Swim School’s entitlement to operate at their current location, they were required to submit for a Variance and a Conditional Use Permit. These were approved by the Planning Commission in 1988,” Nicholas wrote.
“Separately, they also had to submit for a Coastal Development Permit with the Coastal Commission, which was also approved. Both the City’s CUP and the Coastal Commission’s CDP included conditions that the Swim School lease offsite parking spaces, as their lot does not provide adequate parking for their business,” Nicholas wrote.
“Since that time, the Swim School has maintained a private agreement with a neighboring property owner to lease parking spaces. The neighboring property owner notified the Swim School of its intention to end that contract many months ago. At that time, the Swim School reached out to City staff. Substantial support efforts were deployed by staff at no cost to the Swim School, including those of Community Development Director Alexa Smittle, Planning Manager Temple, Police Chief Henderson, Police Captain Nicholas, Assistant City Attorney Greyson, and Parking Consultant Julie Dixon. Unfortunately, there was not another willing lessor. As you are aware, parking is at a premium in Old Town,” Nicholas wrote.
“City staff does not have the authority to ignore a CUP nor waive any of the conditions included in it. Staff advised the Swim School that without another lease option, their path forward was through an amendment to the CUP, which would need to be approved by the Planning Commission. They were also advised they would need to do the same with the Coastal Commission. The Swim School chose not to pursue the amendments to their CUP and CDP for reasons that were not shared with staff,” Nicholas wrote.
At least one social media post attributed the swimming school’s closure to an issue with the city.
“However, City staff dedicated a great deal of time to assisting this business, and the Swim School did not take action to request amendments to their CUP/CDP from the entities that could have considered that option,” Nicholas wrote.
“It breaks my heart,” Ferguson said.
“I had this fantasy that we would be in Seal Beach forever. I love the people of Seal Beach,” Ferguson said.
She had hoped the school would continue here after she was gone.
Asked if she had anything to add, Ferguson said: “That we want to remain in Seal Beach.” She said they would be willing to reduce hours if the city would find a way for the school to stay open.
