February 1, 2006

Rosita Park pool complex project treads water

By Kathleen Acuff / Town Crier Staff Wrier

Dipping a toe in churning water, the Los Altos City Council made a tepid effort to move the Rosita Park pool project ahead last week but pulled back from deciding how many pools to build and where on the site to put them. More time must pass before the long-awaited decision is cast in concrete and the town regains a community pool.

Councilman David Casas said, "This has been a long discussion - seven years in the works, and we still don't have a pool." However, he joined fellow councilmembers and Mayor Ron Packard in asking for a new financial analysis. The analysis in use is about 6 years old.

Without specifying the number of pools to be built, the council unanimously directed city staff to work with SPLASH, the volunteer fund-raising committee for the project, and with Los Altos Masters (LAM), the adult swim team and pool operators, to develop principles of agreement for operating a multiuse pool facility and a strategy for recovering costs if pool operation and programs do not pay for themselves.

Councilmembers unanimously affirmed the policy of requiring the pool complex to pay for itself - "100 percent cost recovery," which city manager Phil Rose defined as breaking even overall.

Wary of overspending, councilmembers asked representatives of SPLASH and LAM to prepare two business plans - one for a single pool plus a wading pool with a water feature and a second for two pools plus a wading pool with a water feature. The council must eventually decide whether to situate the pool or pools in a way that will allow the tennis courts to remain.

Seventeen citizens presented their views on the proposed complex in the Jan. 24 meeting. Most urged the council to move ahead with building at least one pool, although several objected that the council needs up-to-date financial information.

LAM chairman Dick Thomas told the council that two pools would allow a choice of water temperatures, longer teaching hours, more lessons and a more flexible schedule. "Two pools are the key to recreational swimming," he said. "Lessons are the key to cost recovery."

Casas asked LAM bookkeeper Kamrin Knight Desmond, "If we had only one pool, could you make it work?" "Yes," she emphatically replied.

For more information about the Rosita Park pool plans, visit www.splashcommunitypool.org.