By Leslie Lodestro
Other Voices
The folks at SPLASH (Swimmers Promoting Los Altos Aquatics, Safety and Health) are ready to dive into a project that has been two years in the making. Acting as fund-raisers and lobbyists they have worked with the city and residents to propose what they believe to be the perfect community aquatic center.
Sited on the back side of the old Covington pool at the dead end of Rosita Avenue, the new, more community-friendly complex combines a regulation pool for the serious swimmers and swim teams, a recreational pool for lessons and fun and a wading pool for toddlers and water babies.
“This plan is what the community demanded,” says SPLASH spokesperson Kathy Englar.
After a series of city council hearings and public works meetings to discuss the needs of displaced swimming groups and residents, the city agreed to hire an architect to develop the conceptual plans.
The plans are expected to incorporate a wish list which includes the two pools plus the wading pool along with updated lighting and sound systems which will be used for swim meets and before or after hours swim activities. Englar says that the new facility’s usage times will not vary from those of the old pool.
SPLASH has worked hard for two years to find a new site for their disappearing pool. Representing the serious swimmers in town from the Los Altos Masters program (about 200 members) as well as the Covington youth swim team (150 swimmers) and the Los Altos swim program (600 children taught in summer 2000), SPLASH has explored a variety of possible sites. They became hopeful when it appeared that a site at McKenzie park which fronts Fremont and Foothill Expressway might become available. But the pool was to be installed at the expense of the existing tennis courts and that was unacceptable to some. Then a lucky deal was struck; the city swapped some land with the school district. The Mckenzie pool site was replaced with the swapped site at the end of Rosita Avenue. “We were thrilled when this happened,” remembers Englar. “This was a turning point for us.” It seemed as though the neighborhood might be supportive as well, getting a pool, which they were accustomed to, over a noisy, dangerous maintenance yard. SPLASH worked with the city to understand what they might like and they learned that the city wanted more swimming access for residents. SPLASH busied themselves with a plan to fulfill the city’s desires.
While there is no doubt that a larger, more diverse complex will attract more residents, SPLASH also maintains that the proposed configuration is the only way that they can operate in the black. The old Covington pool barely scraped by financially because of its narrow and limited use.
The next stop for the SPLASH plan is an environmental impact report that has been ordered by the City. This report will provide information about anticipated impacts from traffic, noise and light that may be generated by the splashy new aquatic complex.
For more information about SPLASH or their plans contact splash@losaltosmasters.org.
Lodestro is president of the Los Altos Neighborhood Network, a neutral homeowners group that seeks to inform the community on local issues. This piece also appeared in a recent newsletter. Next week, Lodestro addresses the concerns of residents near the proposed site.
