The first hour of the Port Townsend City Council’s meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, saw 80 citizens guided through the existing pool facilities at the Mountain View Commons, to gain a better perspective on the shortfalls.

Parks and Facilities Manager Michael Todd highlighted the hazards and inconveniences of the pool’s shower and changing areas, from floors that have drawn complaints due to slip hazards, to drainage grates that can back up into puddles, and shower plumbing that requires breaking into concrete walls to fix the pipes.

Parks and Recreation Strategy Director Carrie Hite competed over the ambient noise to address the public in the pool area itself, as she expanded upon Todd’s points about how damaging the combination of moisture, heat and time has been to the pool, which had an expected 50-year lifespan when it was built 60 years ago.

Hite explained that the addition of a roof, to what was originally built as an outdoor pool, has been compounded by an HVAC system whose circulation system functions exactly the opposite of how it should, creating a space whose heat and humidity has gradually degraded the ceiling and other facility infrastructure over time.

Hite noted that a full roof replacement was estimated to cost $1 million, which is why an $80,000 ceiling-fix was opted for instead, since the Healthier Together partnership had their eye on an Aquatic and Wellness Center in the future.

Hite cited the existing pool facilities’ insufficient seismic structures and ADA-accessibility, while pointing to the narrow ledges of the current pool and promising that any new pool would offer a zero-depth entry point for swimmers with mobility issues.

Hite added that the pool’s water circulation and filtration is as compromised as its air circulation, with gutters that don’t skin the water properly, and enough leakage from the pool that it has compromised pipes, rebar and the underlying soil.

Meanwhile, both lighting and lightning are issues for the existing pool, since Hite pointed out it should have underwater lighting to meet code, which it doesn’t, and more pressingly, the building isn’t grounded, so when lightning storms are imminent, people need to get out of the water.

Todd recounted finding fragments of piping in the water as evidence that current levels of deterioration threaten to render the pool unusable, and reported that finding replacement parts for the pool’s aging equipment is becoming progressively more difficult and expensive.

Wendy Bart, chief executive officer of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, added that the existing pool space makes it difficult for lifeguard staff to see everyone in the water at once.

Although a full accounting of all the existing pool facility’s shortfalls is being compiled, Hite apologized that it was not available that evening, even as she expected it would be finished within the next couple of weeks.

In the questions that followed outdoors, multiple attendees asked about siting a pool facility in a more central location within Jefferson County as a whole, but Hite listed the three advantages that the Mountain View Commons offers over, for example, Port Hadlock:

1. The property already falls within their purview.

2. It’s located closest to a high-population center.

3. It already has the necessary infrastructure installed, most notably sewer systems.

Stephen Schumacher asked if the new pool would be as heavily chlorinated as the current one, and Hite identified its chlorine saturation as a side-effect of the circulation issues she’d already elaborated on, and said that the new pool would rely on ultraviolet light, to avoid leaning on chlorine so heavily.

When asked about potential sources of funding, Hit broke down the new facility’s estimated $37 million cost by saying $20 million should be covered by bond, while the remaining $17 million would be covered by various avenues and sources of fundraising.

Hite added that a metropolitan park district had been estimated to be far more expensive per individual taxpayer, than a property tax.

James Scarantino asked if anyone had attempted to estimate a cost for simply rebuilding the pool to its existing specs on the same-sized footprint, which Hite acknowledged they had not, but she asserted that the public had called for a pool facility that would be built from the ground up to meet current demands, which was met with a brief round of applause from the attendees.

Hite and Bart conceded that replacing the existing facility could temporarily leave the YMCA without a gymnasium, although Hite said a $3 million to $5 million gym is a goal for a second phase of the Aquatic and Wellness Center, while Bart pledged the Y would “get creative” in where it would provide its services in the meantime.

At the same time, Bart identified two state grants that could add up to $11 million as among the options being explored.