Two years after the Healthier Together Steering Committee began to plot the course for a new county pool, Jefferson County’s Healthier Together Task Force formally presented it “Findings and Recommendations” on Sept. 16.

Its public presentation took place at a special joint meeting of members of the Port Townsend City Council and Jefferson County Commissioners, and was held in Port Townsend City Hall at the start of the council’s business meeting.

The Task Force, which the county formed in the wake of strong public pushback to an initial proposal for a county-wide sales tax to fund a new aquatic facility on Port Townsend’s Mountain View Commons, affirmed that “a modern, public aquatic facility will greatly benefit the health and wellbeing of Jefferson County residents.”

Key to public acceptance of any proposal is “broad agreement on general location and funding mechanisms.”

The Task Force recommended that the county construct a new 25-yard lap pool in the Tri-Area of Port Hadlock, Irondale, and Chimacum, which is closer and more accessible to the majority of county residents than the current pool in Port Townsend’s Mountain View Commons.

Two locations were proposed: a 15-acre county-owned parcel in Chimacum Park that would require a septic system, and a two-plus acre parcel owned by the Chimacum School District at Chimacum Creek Elementary that is within the Port Hadlock Phase 1 Sewer area.

Even if the county were able to act quickly, it would take until 2028 to complete a new facility. “Operating two public pools is not financially feasible,” the Task Force wrote. “A Public Facilities District (PFD), supported by a county sales tax of 0.2%, would generate (in today’s dollars) $15 million for capital construction and $500,000 every year to support operations and maintenance. … An aquatic facility can be largely designed to cost.”

Until a new facility is completed, the Task Force urged Port Townsend to keep the Mountain View Pool open at the current cost of $400,000/year.

Without endorsing a specific design, the Task Force stressed that pre-engineered, pre-fabricated and modular buildings and pool systems “offer savings on initial capital cost life-cycle cost, and time of installation.”

It also noted that while a tax requires majority approval of county voters, either the county or the county and city officials together can create a PFD without voter approval. Key to public acceptance of any proposal is “broad agreement on general location and funding mechanisms.”