When a few college kids salvaged a $400 school bus and turned it into a pool, they thought they had struck gold; but last Thursday, the city of Gainesville Code Enforcement Division asked them to remove the bus from their property.
The students were cited for three $250 violations, according to Ed Dimuccio, investigator for the City of Gainesville Code Enforcement Division. The offenses included the pool being too close to power lines and the pool not meeting the standards for fencing and enclosure.
The owners of the bus, six roommates who live on the 1000 block of Sixth Avenue, found the bus on a Craigslist ad from a Baptist preacher in Orange Heights last October. For an additional $600, they got the registration, insurance and tag to make it legal.
Originally, they used the bus to drive to the UF-Georgia game and tailgate. They also took it on a weeklong camping trip, drove their friends downtown on Halloween, and even occasionally dropped their friends off at classes, said Giancarlo Marogti, a fifth-year senior and part-owner of the bus.
In an act of vandalism on St. Patrick's Day, the bus' tires were slashed and the windshield was broken. Instead of repairing the damage to it, the owners came up with a different idea.
"We were walking to the pool one day and just wished that we didn't have to," said Adam Heaton, a graduate student and another owner of the bus.
They removed part of the roof, took out the windows and turned it into a swimming pool. They added an entertainment center where the roof remained.
"We bought a pool pump, filter and pool liner," Marogti said. "It was up and running in about a week."
The roommates enjoyed the pool for more than a month before an investigator from the city of Gainesville Code Enforcement Division came to them with a long list of violations.
"We're willing to do anything to make it legitimate to stay," Heaton said, in hopes of making the bus safe and acceptable under city laws. Since the inspector's visit, the men have drained the water from the pool and plan to move the bus farther away from the power lines.
"It's become a landmark of the neighborhood," Heaton said. "Everybody loves it."
Even if the students find a way to securely lock the back and front doors, they would still be in violation of ordinances regarding swimming pools, Dimuccio said.
"A child could get in it and nobody would know," he said. "It's becoming a safety hazard."
The City of Gainesville Code Enforcement Division is waiting on a maintenance report for the bus to determine if it is safe to drive on streets.
The bus is also more than 35 feet long, making it too long to be parked at the house even if registered as an RV, according to Dimuccio.
"Their best bet is to find a place to store it and then bring it back for less than 72 hours to use it," Dimuccio said. "I don't see any way they're going to be able to keep it."
If they are allowed to keep the bus, the owners said they plan on fixing it up so that it can be driven to campus on game days.
"It's been such a big part of our college careers," Marogti said. "We don't want to lose it."
