PORT ANGELES — A bond issue to build a new municipal aquatics center at the Clallam County Family YMCA complex could go to voters this November.

Then if the bond issue passes at the ballot box, construction could begin in April 2008 with the new aquatics center — operated by the YMCA but built and owned by the city — opening in December 2009.

That’s the “tight” schedule presented to the City Council on Tuesday night by Deputy Recreation Director Bill Sterling.

The City Council unanimously approved allowing city staff to negotiate a formal operating agreement with the YMCA, based upon a similar agreement from Boise, Idaho.

The final agreement would be approved by the council when it is finished.

Conceptual design

The council also directed city staff to complete the conceptual design and cost estimates for the proposed aquatics center on the YMCA site at 302 S. Francis St.

Sterling told the council that the project’s goals are an aquatics center, a joint operation between the city and the YMCA, that is more cost-effective with a broader range of programs.

The proposed November 2006 bond election date “isn’t magical” but is cheaper because there are other issues on that ballot to share costs, Sterling said.

Competing bond issues also could be on the ballot the following spring, he said.

The operating agreement, which is based upon a similar one between the city of Boise and the Boise YMCA, has no real big issues, just mainly legal language, Sterling said.

Proposed features of the aquatics center include a 6-lane, 25-meter competitive pool of about 4,000 square feet; a 1,000-square-foot diving pool; a 25-meter, 3-lane lap pool of about 2,000 square feet; and an irregular-shaped leisure pool of about 4,000 square feet.

Other proposed features are a spa pool, a dry training room, deck circulation and sitting areas, a family patio area, a mezzanine viewing area, and possibly an outdoor lawn and fenced area.