PORT ANGELES — The impending open-ended closure of William Shore Memorial Pool — set to undergo a $16.5 million expansion beginning in late May — will impact numerous members of the Port Angeles community, including the 70-plus member Port Angeles Swim Club and the Port Angeles High School boys and girls swim teams.
“We are kind of in a predicament,” said Jessica Johnson, Port Angeles Swim Club (PASC) head coach.
Johnson is exploring all avenues in an attempt to keep as many swimmers involved with the sport as possible throughout the duration of the pool’s expansion.
The Sequim YMCA is negotiating with Port Angeles School District to house the Port Angeles High School boys and girls swim teams during the 2019 girls fall season and the boys 2019-20 winter season.
“We are in negotiations with the school district and confident that everyone on the school swim teams will have time to swim during the upcoming season,” Sequim YMCA executive director Kurt Turner said.
The project, approved by more than 70 percent of voters in the William Shore Memorial Pool District via a property tax levy vote in November of 2017, has seen rising construction costs and increased soft costs (such as architectural and engineering work, fees, taxes and a 5-percent contingency fee) raise the total project price to $16.5 million.
Changes in the project’s construction timeline also have extended the planned closure of the facility from five months to an estimated 10 months — a time period that could be shorter or longer.
Initially, the pool expansion called for two phases of construction. During the first phase, the pool was to remain open while new locker rooms and a new entrance on the Lincoln Street side of the facility were built.
A second phase of major construction work would have shuttered the facility completely for five months from February 2019 to the start of summer, and not impacted the 2019-2020 school year’s high school swimming seasons.
Changes to the schedule were announced in October 2018 by pool executive director Steve Burke.
“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 in an Oct. 5, 2018 story in the Peninsula Daily News.
“No one wanted to close it for that much time, but financially, we don’t have much of a choice.”
It was determined that it would cost more than $750,000 extra to do the project in phases, Burke said.
The district’s board of commissioners voted to scrap that approach.
Johnson knew that PASC practices would be impacted by the project, but not to this extent.
“We were kind of under the impression through William Shore we would be accommodated with short phase closures,” Johnson said. “That’s how it was passed by the voters, as a phased project with certain things still open. Of course, we were supportive of the expansion, but we thought it would be a much shorter closure in the range of three to four months and five at the most.”
She initially reached out to the Sequim YMCA.
The pool schedule at the Sequim YMCA is busy throughout the year and Johnson said the Sequim YMCA initially discussed with PASC a practice window of 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. to accommodate the club’s year-round practice schedule. That time would be an extension of the Sequim YMCA’s normal weekday operating hours.
“[Scheduling] the swim club is a little bit tougher because of our busy schedule and the activities we already have,” Turner said. “We are willing to assist them as best we can in providing pool time for their membership.”
With members ranging from age 6 to 18, that late-evening, school night practice time, coupled with travel between Port Angeles and Sequim, is far from ideal for even the club’s older swimmers.
“We sent out a questionnaire to our members asking if they would be able to participate using that schedule and over half said no,” Johnson said.
“Even if Sequim gives us better hours to train it will still impact our numbers greatly,” Johnson said.
”It’s not likely Sequim has room for us in their schedule. The best we could hope for would be one to two lanes which would only accommodate eight to 16 swimmers. If we were only given the original 8:30-10 we would have less than that swimming, maybe four or five.
“The cost for Sequim to extend their hours would be significant. With only a handful of swimmers we wouldn’t be able to afford the pool time.”
Johnson said that the higher-echelon swimmers seeking to swim collegiately likely will stick with the program, but many others wouldn’t cease learning the sport.
“We will be able to keep the kids that are pursuing college scholarships and are really motivated and committed to swimming, but some of the part-time kids, those that are not as committed, will not be interested,” Johnson said.
Port Angeles chiropractor James Halberg’s office on Lauridsen Boulevard has an indoor, two-lane, 25-yard pool — the same distance used in youth recreation, high school and college competitions. He’s offered to let the club use it — but there are stumbling blocks to overcome.
The pool has not been used in a number of years and needs thousands of dollars in repairs.
“Practices would be longer but we could get them all through in three or four hours,” Johnson said.
“There’s about $20,000 we know right now needed to fix the pool.”
When word circulated of the club’s plan to fundraise to fix the Halberg pool, another wrench was thrown in the group’s plans.
“[Clallam County] Environmental Health contacted us and said any fixes would have to be permitted and approved by the state [Department of Health’s Water Recreation Program],” Johnson said.
“We were told it would need to be permitted like a public use pool even though a private group would be using it.”
Johnson said going through that process could lead to some significant engineering costs.
And the process could be further complicated by the speed of the permit process.
The Water Recreation Program’s website includes a note on time-sensitive projects.
“Reviewing a complete application package for new construction or modification of an existing Water Recreation Facility or Recreational Water Contact Facility may take up to 30 days or longer. Please submit applications well in advance of your construction date.”
This news has Johnson reaching out to other nearby pools.
“We definitely will need pool space immediately in Sequim [when William Shore closes for the start of construction],” Johnson said.
“I have to plan for the long term. Anything that comes up will be a change in plans and prolong it. We are still trying to find answers to get the private pool fixed and still trying to secure some time with Sequim to keep the kids swimming.
“We’ve been looking into other pools. Hotels and motels [pools] might be an option for younger kids to keep them in Port Angeles and in the program.
“But those won’t help our older swimmers. We will have to get them to a 25-yard pool.”
Johnson also brought up another problem caused by the closure of William Shore Memorial Pool.
“We won’t have swim lessons in our town for nearly a year,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure [the] Sequim [YMCA] is going to be able to accommodate that number of participants.
“That’s a concern considering we live in a community surrounded by water.”
For now, Johnson and the Swim Club is planning a series of fundraisers — including a car wash Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 8th Street Car Wash, 111 E. Eighth St.
A yard sale is planned at 2114 W. Eighth St. in Port Angeles from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 10-11 and a spaghetti dinner will be held June 15 at Harbinger Winery.
“Funds raised will be used either to fix [Halberg’s] the pool or to pay for transportation to Sequim for our athletes during the closure,” Johnson said.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
