More than a decade ago, when his local council asked residents to come up with ideas for the foreshore along his part of the bay, Port Melbourne resident Rohan Cresp dreamed up the idea of a sea pool.
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"The only thing that came out of the process was a proposal for a pool in St Kilda," says Mr Cresp.
That St Kilda ocean was never built, but now Mr Cresp is trying a different way of floating his idea for a bay swimming hole, that he believes could be constructed on what now serves as the parking lot for Port Melbourne Yacht Club.
"This site is the gateway to Melbourne", says Mr Cresp, for people arriving by cruise ship and the Spirit of Tasmania. The site is also within walking distance of local schools.
"Brighton Baths is the closest thing to this [idea]," says Mr Cresp, who is understood to be now sizing up a tilt at election in October to the council that once shunned his idea, Port Phillip.
To prove his seriousness about the pool plan, he commissioned WOWOWA Architecture & Interiors to create renders of what it would look like.
One of the firm's directors, Monique Woodward, is on the board of the Australian Institute of Architect's Victorian chapter, and through her work with the institute has become interested in how people can advocate to shape their community.
To this end, she has launched an online crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds to produce a more in-depth feasibility study for the pool, and a range of community facilities that might also be built with it.
Mr Cresp says the idea "wouldn't be taking much of the beach away" and would create some real positives for the yacht club, which would look out onto the pool and bay beyond.
Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss says she has spoken to Mr Cresp about the idea. On Sunday, she pointed out that the massive spending on the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in nearby Albert Park had been where the council had chosen to spend its money after local government amalgamations during the Kennett era.
"That's now the pool for the whole region," she says.
And the financial aspects of a seaside pool in Port Melbourne would be an equally challenging aspect of the plan. "Pools traditionally don't make money – that would be a concern, especially as we are in an era of rate capping," she says.
