By Editorial

The ongoing controversy over construction of a three-pool swimming complex at the end of Rosita Avenue has all sides making sense.

The Rosita-area residents are justified in their concerns over the anticipated traffic tie-ups from a reopened Covington School, the pool center, athletic fields at neighboring Rosita Park and a new child-care center on the Covington site at the end of their dead-end street.

Los Altos City Council members and pool supporters, represented by SPLASH (Swimmers Promoting Los Altos Aquatics, Safety and Health) seem justified in their stance, because there is now no community pool in Los Altos and the project would seem to fill a tremendous need.

The city made a good move when it arranged a land swap with the Los Altos School District that got rid of a noisy corporation yard and led the way for the new pool plans.

SPLASH is financing the pool construction so that the city doesn’t pay a dime. The group is headlong into a $3 million fund-raising drive for the pool complex.

The traffic question, however, remains a nagging problem.

The Los Altos City Council is awaiting a preliminary environmental report that could offer a clue as to what these traffic impacts might be.

In the meantime, residents fret over the future of their quiet neighborhood.

SPLASH supporters say other sites have been explored, including McKenzie Park, where the pool idea also elicited protests from surrounding residents. The hard question has been: Where do you put public pools that people say they want, but not built close to where they live?

Pool backers and council members seem to think the traffic will not be as bad as the neighbors think, because people will be traveling at different hours throughout the day for a variety of reasons.

However, SPLASH plans to run swimming programs from about 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., guaranteeing a consistent flow of visitors - generating roughly double the number of swimmers who used the old Covington Pool. SPLASH justifies their proposed schedule as needed for paying the cost of running the complex.

So where does all this lead? Fortunately, not everything at Covington will change at once. Covington School is set to be reopened by August of next year, before the pools are. This will allow an opportunity to see what the traffic impacts will be on Rosita from the school, child-care center and athletic fields.

In the weeks and months ahead, as this plan goes forward, we see the need for all sides to be willing to compromise, to be patient and - above all - to be good neighbors.