The Play Membership Should Cost Columbia Residents $0 and You Can Help Make This Happen
It’s become clear that we’re paying too much to enjoy the amenities Columbia offers its residents and there is no financial advantage to living in Columbia. In fact, it’s a financial disadvantage. The average annual assessment paid by residents is $1200. For that amount of money we have beautiful open spaces, walking paths and play areas. However, if you live in a development that is not on Columbia Association (CA) assessed property, you get to enjoy all of that for $0. Think of the folks who live in Glenmont, Sewells Orchard and Ecker’s Hollow who regularly walk, run and bike into not only Oakland Mills, Long Reach and Owen Brown but the other Columbia Villages as well. All of this provided to them free of charge.
The solution to this problem is for the Columbia Association (CA), whose annual income relies on residents paying the annual assessment, to provide real value to residents for living in Columbia. The first step is to stop charging residents living and working on CA assessed property for the Play membership. The Play membership currently includes:
- Access to 23 Outdoor Swimming Pools
- Access to Columbia Swim Center
- Access to SplashDown (3-story high, indoor waterslide)
- Access to 5 Tennis/Pickleball Facilities
- Columbia Athletic Club Indoor Tennis*
- Long Reach Tennis Club*
- Owen Brown Tennis Club
- Racquet Club at Hobbit's Glen
- Wilde Lake Tennis Club
- Access to Columbia Ice Rink
- Access to Columbia Skate Arena
- Access to Columbia SportsPark
- Miniature Golf
- Batting Cages*
- Columbia Skatepark
- Complimentary Monthly Guest Passes
*Additional fees and restrictions may apply
In FY ’25, the current budget year, residents will have paid $48M in annual assessments and another roughly $10M to purchase CA memberships. Non-residents pay slightly more for a membership to one of CA’s facilities, however, when you include the annual assessment, the resident is paying quite a bit more.
One of CA’s most popular programs is the Columbia Neighborhood Swim League (CNSL), fondly referred to as summer swim team. However, you can’t join the summer swim team if you don’t purchase a CA membership. This is a cost barrier for a lot of kids living in Columbia who would love to join the swim team. Again, people who don’t live on CA assessed property don’t pay the annual assessment and can buy a membership and join the summer swim team and still aren’t paying as much as Columbia residents.
On December 12th the CA Board of Directors (BOD) will get its first opportunity to see the draft budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. Over the past months I have been talking to and working with several of my fellow board members to increase the value to residents from the annual assessment. If the draft budget does not include a $0 cost Play membership for residents, then we will not vote to approve it.
You Can Help Make This Happen
I encourage you to not only share this newsletter with your friends and neighbors, but more importantly to also tell CA what you think. Below are multiple options on how to do this. I recommend doing all of these.
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Email the CA Board of Directors Use this link to complete the online form and tell the CA Board of Directors to make the Play membership $0 for residents.
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Use this link to sign up for Resident Speakout. You can speak to the CA BOD directly during Resident Speakout. The deadline for signing up is 5pm the day before the BOD meeting (December 11th at 5pm). You can sign up to come in person or you can choose the virtual option. Residents get 3 minutes to speak and often the BOD has follow up questions.
- Reach out to your CA Council Representative directly to tell them you want a $0 cost Play membership for residents:
4.Share this information with all of your friends and neighbors.
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