PORT ANGELES — William Shore Memorial Pool will close for about nine months when construction on its $15 million renovation starts April 1, the pool district announced Monday.
Steve Burke, executive director of the pool, said the initial plan was to conduct the remodel in phases, keeping the central pool atrium open to the public while the front office and dressing rooms were under construction, but higher-than-expected construction costs made that impossible.
“It was our plan ‘A’ to do it in phases, but when we got the costs back that wasn’t going to be financially feasible, so we’re going with plan ‘B,’ ” Burke said. “No one wanted to close it for that much time, but financially, we don’t have much of a choice.”
Once Neeley Construction was selected as the general contractor, the design and engineering was developed in greater detail, and it was determined that it would cost more than $750,000 extra to do the project in phases, he said.
The district’s board of commissioners decided Tuesday to scrap the multiple-phase approach.
Burke said the revenues the pool receives while it’s open — about $30,000 per month — do not cover the costs of keeping it open.
Because of that, he said the pool will be saving money, despite the lost revenue from being closed.
He said there are typically 50 people working at the pool, ranging from full-time positions to an hour a week.
In addition to the cost savings, the total construction time will be shorter without phasing. The facility will now be closed from April to December in order to reduce costs and shorten the construction timetable by up to six months, Burke said.
“We’re going as quick as we can,” he said. “The one good thing is … when you do it all at once, you get a better product in the end. We’ll get a better result because we’re not phasing.”
Last week the pool announced it had been chosen to receive two grants totalling $1.25 million.
The district, with collaboration from the city of Port Angeles, put together an application for a $750,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
The grant funds will be used to create space for the district’s after-school program, SPARK Squad. As of the start of the school year, more than 60 kids attend this program every weekday.
The William Shore Memorial Pool District also applied for and won a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) program, a grant administered by the state Recreation Conservation Office, to be used for the construction of a warm water exercise pool.
Built in 1961, the pool was in need of about $2 million in repairs and the 15,000-square-foot facility has become overcrowded with more than 100,000 annual visits.
The city of Port Angeles operated the pool since it opened in 1962 and planned to close it in 2008 because of the cost of renovations.
Property owners within the district, which shares a boundary with the Port Angeles School District, will pay an additional 6 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to help fund the $15 million expansion.
The rest of the expansion will be covered by bonds from existing levy capacity and state grants.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
This architectural rendering shows how the entrance to William Shore Memorial Pool will look following an expansion project. (Architecture Resource Collaborative)
This architectural rendering shows how the inside of William Shore Memorial Pool will be arranged following an expansion project. (Architecture Resource Collaborative)
