For more information about how to have your say in the push for a Comprehensive Aquatics Plan for the north and south ends of the city, contact Project Seattle Pools Team Coordinator Elizabeth Nelson at Elizabeth@seattlepools.org.
Over the past year, members of Project Seattle Pools have lobbied for more pools. Results have been mixed.
The good news: There’s a potential for more indoor pools to be open seven days a week as a result of the City Council’s decision to fund UV treatment as part of its energy-efficiency budget. UV treatment involves passing water through a pipe with an ultraviolet light in it to kill pathogens, including cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhea and is easily transmitted in pools. It reduces eye-stinging chlorine products in the water and allows pools to be covered when not in use, saving energy. The parks department has installed UV treatment at Queen Anne and Evans pools and is working on Southwest and Meadowbrook pools. At least one other pool will be treated under the new budget, says Seattle Pools Team Coordinator Elizabeth Nelson. “We’ll need to lobby again for a bit more budget to cover seven-day openings," she says, "but this gets us much closer."
The bad news: The new parks levy to be submitted to voters Nov. 4 does not include any money for new pools or maintenance of aging pools. Nelson agrees with the Parks Department’s conclusion that there was not enough cost information on pools to include them in levy. She praises the City Council for passing a resolution this month to include pools in the next parks levy.
An opportunity: Project Seattle Pools is hoping to get funding for a $375,000 Comprehensive Aquatics Plan in the city’s fall 2008 budget. The plan would address how Seattle can cost-effectively meet the needs for swimming activities and programming, including slides to attract teens and more capacity for swimming lesson for kids. It would also take into account the fact that the Jefferson/Rainier Valley is the least served by public pools and that both the city’s outdoor pools are west of I-5. If funding for the two-year study is not included in the upcoming bi-annual budget, it will not be possible to apply for private funding and state grants and to get pools included in the next parks levy, Nelson explains.
Parents who are interested in getting involved can visit seattlepools.org for continual updates.
Behind Project Seattle Pools
Seattle has built only one pool in 30 years and provides only 1.7 pools per 100,000 citizens, far below the national average of three pools per 100,000 residents, according to figures compiled by the Trust for Public Land. Two of Seattle’s pools are outdoors – Mounger Pool in Magnolia and Colman Pool in West Seattle, both west of Interstate 5.
“Our city has not kept up with the times. Whenever you have long wait lists (three to 12 years) and expensive fees to join private clubs ($2,000-$25,000), swimming becomes an exclusive activity,” says Christine Larsen, a Capitol Hill mother of three.
She used to get in line at 5 a.m. to try to get her children into 9 a.m. swim lessons at a private pool in Wedgwood. If she were a member, she’d have no problem, but she’s been on the waiting list for seven years and has five years to go. This past summer, she drove her children, ages 2, 4 and 7, across town to the outdoor Mounger Pool, but wasn’t able to enroll them in swim lessons.
She began an effort to get another outdoor pool in northeast Seattle in the summer of 2007, and arranged meetings with representatives of Seattle Parks and Recreation at local community centers this past fall. As she researched the issue, she saw a need for outdoor pools in southeast Seattle, as well as other areas of the city. After becoming a parks commissioner later in the fall, Larsen turned over leadership of the organization to Nelson, who has broadened the scope of the effort.
Nelson grew up in northeast Seattle and swam at a private pool in View Ridge. Nelson overcame health challenges and says, “Swimming was a refuge when normal activities were difficult to do, and one of the most important things I did growing up to keep me healthy was to learn to swim.” She now lives near University Village and finds fewer opportunities available: The waiting list for the View Ridge pool she used as a child is 847 people long. “I couldn’t afford it now,” she says.
“Cost-effectiveness is a selling point for outdoor pools,” Nelson says, pointing to the success of Mounger Pool. “Kids don’t want to go indoors in summer – they want to access swimming through play.” In addition, she says she represents the population that needs more pool space for therapy, noting that there is no public, graduated-entry pool in the whole city. She also cites the need for pool space for swim teams that must sometimes practice at 4:45 a.m. “There is an overall lack of pool space for all ages and all abilities.”
Project Seattle Pools members were able to secure funding for a Parks Department feasibility study in 2008 to assess the need for pools. They have been encouraging residents to comment on the strategic plan.
“The Parks Department must hear a city-wide call for pool space before it will prioritize pools,” Nelson says.
The Push for a New Bellevue Aquatic Center
A preliminary report on a feasibility study for building a new aquatic center in Bellevue indicates a need for more pool space in the greater Seattle area, according to Sharon Simas, who founded the nonprofit organization SPLASH for All two years ago in 2006.
The city of Bellevue has not increased its public pool capacity since 1970, and has one public pool. Meanwhile, the population of the Eastside has quadrupled. Regionally, Woodinville recently lost its pool and Bothell’s is slated to close in 2011. Other public stand-alone pools are reaching the ends of their life spans. Most small, private pools were built between 1959 and 1970. Private pools are also out of the reach of many lower-income residents, says Simas.
Simas was a competitive swimmer, lifeguard and swim instructor, and her two children are involved in swim and water polo teams in Bellevue. They must practice year-round in outdoor pools or rent public swim time at Juanita High School in Kirkland. Her daughter’s water polo team practices at the Samena Swim Club’s outdoor pool even if there’s snow on the ground and ice on the pool deck. This fall, four high schools will be sharing the Mary Wayte Pool on Mercer Island.
Beginning with a group of parents and swim coaches, SPLASH for All has expanded to include representatives of the whole community. It now has a strong board of directors and has been building support among public officials for a multi-purpose, all-season regional aquatics center in the greater Bellevue area. The concept has been endorsed by the Bellevue School District.
The group envisions a recreational facility with room for water volleyball or inner tube water polo, as well as informal family sessions for swimming, splashing, and enjoying water slides, a “lazy river,” rope swing, toddler pool and Jacuzzi. The facility would include therapeutic pools, along with a world-standard 50-meter competition pool and dive area for high school, recreational and club swimming, diving and water polo teams. “Our vision is very, very broad,” Simas says.
The Bellevue Parks and Recreation Department’s feasibility study evaluates six potential sites and looks at users and capital needs. SPLASH for All estimates the total cost at $25 million to $30 million and envisions a partnership with the City of Bellevue and the Bellevue School District, as well as corporate, public and philanthropic funding.
Looking beyond the effort to build the Bellevue facility, Simas says the group would like to see an initiative, like the 1968 Seattle/King County Forward Thrust bond issue, to build or replace pools in the entire region. Splash for All is supporting efforts in Seattle, Duvall, Bothell, Issaquah, Kent and Whidbey Island.
“People with toddlers now are the next advocates. It’s a long process, and if we don’t start now, in 10 to 15 years public swimming will go away,” Simas says.
“We have lots of places to eat and shop on the Eastside, but not enough indoor recreation.”
