PORT HADLOCK — Jeffco Aquatic Coalition has launched a countywide survey intended to gather data on what the county’s population wants out of a Port Hadlock-based aquatic center.
The survey, available on the aquatic coalition’s website at https://www.jeffcoaquatic coalition.org, will run through the end of March.
Last spring and summer, the coalition (JAC) participated in Jefferson County’s Healthier Together Task Force. JAC’s president Diane McDade said it was composed of representatives from all over the county. They met 10 times from April to August and engaged with a number of regional groups who had built community aquatic centers.
Notably, they engaged with organizers who had recently built an aquatic center on south Whidbey Island.
“They had a lot of lessons learned and one of the lessons was that you really need to fully understand, in some degree of detail, exactly how the residents in your area would want to use an aquatic center,” McDade said. “In other words, if you’re going to design something, it really needs to meet the needs of your community, and people want to see that amenities and features that they’re looking for are going to be in the design, very logical.”
The survey, which can be taken in English or Spanish, takes about five minutes to complete.
The aquatic coalition began preparing the survey last fall, McDade said.
A team of JAC board members, including McDade, vice president Katelyn Bosley, board member Mary Janell (MJ) Metzger and board member Kat Meyer collaborated on designing the survey, Meyer said.
Meyer, a research scientist working for the state, said she focuses primarily on quantitative ecology. Within that, she has a history of running statewide surveys for a variety of research questions. Bosley has a similar background, Meyer said.
“Everyone brought to the table a really unique set of skills and qualifications,” Meyer said. “MJ’s a literature professor, retired, Diane used to run campaigns at the state level in Washington. Kind of a remarkably solid team for putting something together like this.”
Meyer said the survey is intended to present as representative a picture of what people want as possible.
“The objective, in a nutshell, was to ensure that we’re providing as wide of an opportunity as possible for people to provide their perspectives,” Meyer said. “The goal in this process, as I see it, is to allow objective data to help inform the process, rather than allow the most vocal minority to sort of drive the conversation.”
A survey focused on Port Townsend, was done a little more than 10 years ago, Meyer said. It felt important to do the work in a way that reflected the present-day community, she said.
“Really the objective was to extend work that had been done previously,” Meyer said. “Which was reaching out to the community to get a sense of what the community actually wants and feel like they need in an aquatic facility. We wanted to create a more countywide focus to the survey and ensure that we were really extending outreach throughout the county. The previous effort was a little more focused on Port Townsend alone.”
Meyer said a survey conducted during the community outreach phase of the aquatic center on south Whidbey Island and the previous Port Townsend survey informed the development of the JAC survey.
The survey is a mix of multiple-choice questions and questions to gauge a survey participant’s interest in particular programs, amenities or activities by scale from very interested, to somewhat interested, to not interested.
The survey is slightly different based on whether its participant is a resident or a visitor. For residents who take the survey, there is a question about the likelihood that they would support a two-tenths of 1 percent countywide sales tax to support constructing the pool. The visitor survey will run into tourist season, McDade said.
The survey includes questions designed to gather general interest in having a pool built as well as expected use rates.
Amenities or activities are split by aquatic and non-aquatic.
Aquatic-based questions gauge participants’ interest in lap swimming, open swimming, youth or adult swimming lessons, water aerobics, a hot tub, a sauna or steam room, and pool rentals, among other things.
Non-aquatic questions gauge participants’ interest in after-school programs and camps, childcare, group fitness classes like yoga, pilates or dance, a community kitchen, a gymnasium, a rock climbing wall and physical therapy, among other things.
McDade said JAC is focusing on getting the word out that the survey is up and running. Along with attending a number of community gatherings and getting on local organizations’ newsletters, information about the survey is going with Jefferson PUD’s monthly bill, both physically and electronically.
The PUD insert includes a QR code. That utility is used by 13,000 people countywide, McDade said.
In addition to presenting for a number of community groups, JAC will host two community meetings at the end of February.
One will be hosted from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave., Port Hadlock. Commissioner Heidi Eisenhower will attend along with JAC members.
The other will be from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101, Quilcene. Commissioner Greg Brotherton will attend along with JAC members.
People who need help filling out the survey can call 833-657-7665 or email at info@jeffcoaquaticcoalition.org. Groups also can request for JAC to present about the survey during its runtime, McDade said.
The survey was designed to be taken one per household, McDade said. After hearing some feedback and pointing out the potential for disagreement within a single household, McDade said more than one can be filled out per household, using separate devices.
Forming a public facilities district (PFD) is a next step for the board of commissioners, county commissioner Greg Brotherton said in a February commissioners meeting. Meyer said the data received in the survey is intended to be used by the PFD in pre-development. The data is expected to be made public record, Meyer said.
“Once you know the community’s priorities, you are in a much better position to design a facility that will be used a lot, that will become the center of the community, that will become a meeting spot for a variety of different activities,” McDade said.
In 2023, efforts to build a new pool on what is currently the off-leash dog park at the Mountain View campus in Port Townsend stalled, McDade said. Ultimately, it would require taxes paid to a county-established Public Facilities District, which was never formed.
“The proposal was to be funded through countywide sales tax increase,” McDade said. “Folks felt that, in the southern portion of the county, that it was not a pool that would be super convenient for them to use on a regular basis.”
McDade said the $37 million price tag was seen as too expensive.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
