PORT TOWNSEND — The cost of a new aquatics and wellness center that would replace the aging Mountain View pool and how to pay for it dominated discussion at the third and final open house for the Healthier Together Aquatics Center Feasibility Study.
About 75 people attended the event Thursday evening at Fort Worden Commons to ask questions and offer feedback on the two design concepts that have been distilled from public input gathered at open houses, and through comment cards and online surveys.
An online open house was conducted Wednesday.
The first design concept Jim Kalvelage and Erica Dunn of Opsis Architecture presented was a basic plan for a 29,700-square-foot, $37.1 million aquatics and wellness center with competition and recreational pools; a spa and sauna; a room for birthday parties and men’s, women’s and universal changing rooms.
The second, a full build-out plan, would include everything in the basic plan plus a gymnasium and multi-use space for group exercise classes. That 40,200-square-foot facility was estimated to cost $45.9 million.
The two design concepts can be found at tinyurl.com/bd46whz4.
“This is all very nice, but it’s not what we can afford right now,” said Joyce Morton of Port Townsend. “What about a ‘none of the above’ option?”
The 60-year-old Mountain View facility is owned by the city, which has made significant repairs and upgrades over the years, including authorizing $75,000 in April to make temporary repairs to its leaky roof. According to city officials, continuing to pour money into a failing facility is not a wise use of public funds.
At the very least, Kalvelage said, the pool and its mechanical system needs to be completely rebuilt, and its roof and exterior replaced.
“It doesn’t make sense to put dollars back into it,” he said.
There was still a strong belief voiced among some in the audience that the existing pool was still viable.
Musa Jaman said she wanted to see a comparison between the cost of repairing Mountain View and the cost of building a new facility. Making the cost analysis of the repairs needed at Mountain View would be a start, she said.
“We need to give the existing pool a fair chance,” said Jaman, who had been an avid Mountain View swimmer in middle and high school. “I would like to see us work with what we have.”
Opsis presented two options for funding the new pool, both of which would need to be approved by voters: a public facilities district or a metropolitan park district.
A PFD that combined a 0.02 percent sales tax, a 5 percent tax on admission to the pool and a 2 percent lodging tax would generate about $2.1 million a year and cost the average resident about $40. A simple majority would be needed to pass the initiative.
The MPD option is primarily a property tax that would levy 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation and raise about $2.1 million a year.
Unlike a PFD, only those residents living in what would be determined to be the primary service area would be taxed in an MPD.
Clallam County voters in 2009 approved an MPD in the amount of 34 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to construct the Shore Aquatic Center.
Unlike a PFD, an MPD could carve out a primary service area within Jefferson County, but it would require two votes on the ballot to pass, and one would require a supermajority.
Carrie Hite, the city’s director of parks and recreation strategy, said the goal was to cover 15 percent of the pool’s capital costs with state and federal grants and donations. The Port Townsend School District has already donated land at Mountain View worth $1.5 million to $2 million for the project.
The community overwhelmingly chose Mountain View as the site of any new aquatics and wellness center, and Kalvelage said the existing pool would be able to remain open while the new aquatics center is constructed. When the new center opens, the old pool would be demolished and the site turned into parking.
The six-lane, 25-yard competition pool with starting blocks would enable Port Townsend High School to host home meets, and the recreational pool has a lazy river. Additional amenities for children, like a splash pad and an accessible playground, could be added in the future.
The Healthier Together is a partnership among the City of Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Jefferson Healthcare, the Port Townsend School District, the Port of Port Townsend, the Olympic Peninsula YMCA and Jefferson Aquatics Coalition. It comprises the steering committee that will choose the aquatic and wellness center concept design and the funding mechanism based on feedback from the open house and the online survey and comments.
On Sept. 5, the city council will hear the steering committee’s final recommendations. Public events after this will focus on explaining the design and funding, with the goal of having an initiative on a February 2024 special election ballot.
Once funding is secured, Hite said she estimated the design and permitting phase would take about 12 months and construction would take another 14 months. The cost estimates were based on the assumption construction would start in spring 2025.
One woman in the audience elicited applause when said many Jefferson County residents were retired, on limited incomes and faced more frequent and increasingly higher taxes for utilities, fire protection, schools and their homes.
What happens if the voters turn the pool initiative down, she asked.
City Manager John Mauro said he understood concerns about the cost.
“It’s a heavy lift and we’re a small community,” Mauro said. “We have a pool that is falling apart. It’s not whether or not we upgrade the pool, it’s about whether we have one at all.”
To take a survey on the aquatics and wellness center, go to tinyurl.com/y6shjz6pand and scan the QR code or go tinyurl.com/yc3bfuw3.
To see the Open House No. 3 presentation and feasibility study that includes the design updates and cost estimates, go to tinyurl.com/ycx4bpvf.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@soundpublishing.com.
