``I feel that any one neighborhood can only absorb so much burden for the common good of the community,'' said Mayor Ron Packard, who voted for the single pool concept. ``I feel like that neighborhood has reached that limit, even with one pool.''

The single, 25-yard by 25-meter multi-use pool is estimated to cost about $3.7 million to build. Local swimming advocates will now begin raising private money to cover construction costs, swim advocate Kathy Englar said on behalf of Swimmers Promoting Los Altos Aquatics, Safety and Health, the group raising the money.

Los Altos has been without a public pool for eight years, when the pool at Covington School closed. Through a land swap deal with the Los Altos School District, the city acquired a one-acre parcel of land near Rosita Park bordering Covington School for the aquatic complex.

The Rosita Park Neighborhood Coalition has fought the aquatic complex since its inception, and raised questions about the complex's economic feasibility even at Tuesday's meeting.

The single, 25-yard by 25-meter multi-use pool is estimated to lose about $160,000 per year, according to the findings of a pool subcommittee tasked with projecting the complex's financial picture. If usage rates were increased, the pool would lose just $25,000 a year.

Councilman David Casas, who was a member of the subcommittee, said in an earlier interview that the financial estimates were conservative. For example, subcommittee members took a worst-case scenario when estimating the cost of heating the pool, which on their spreadsheet cost $110,000.

The city is in talks with Los Altos Masters, which would like to oversee the operation of the pool complex. Casas said decisions on profits and losses who would pay the bill when the center lost money and would would keep the profits when the center made money have not yet been made.

``SPLASH is happy to have the continued support of the City Council,'' Englar said Wednesday. ``This is an emphatic statement in support of the pool project."