By Linda Taaffe

Pool proponents have continued fundraising for the community-pool center slated for Rosita Park despite a judge’s recent ruling to halt the project until the city conducts more detailed environmental studies.

“The lawsuit … is not about whether a pool will or will not be constructed at Rosita Park, but about whether the California Environmental Quality Act was followed,” said Kathy Englar, spokeswoman for the fund-raising group SPLASH. “The Parks & Recreation Commission performed a careful study of all available public land and determined that the Rosita site was the best location for a pool.

“No one wants to violate the Environmental Quality Act. We need to follow the laws of California,” she added.

Superior Court Judge Leslie Nichols Feb. 20 ruled in favor of neighbors protesting the three-pool project who said the city’s environmental studies did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. The project, as proposed, could have a significant effect on the environment, he said.

City Manager Phil Rose said Nichols did not specify how the city should proceed. He simply did not uphold the city’s approved mitigated negative declaration, which would have given the project the green light without the need for more studies.

The city was waiting for final court papers before taking the next step.

“… There’s an endless spectrum on how much we can do,” said Rose about the additional environmental studies.

An Environmental Impact Report could be one alternative. A report could include looking at alternative sites or reducing the number of pools at Rosita. The process could tie up the project from six months to two years.

Rose said even if an EIR shows there are impacts that can not be mitigated, the city could legally move forward with the project if the council decides that the public benefits out weigh the neighborhood impacts.

If the city decides to do that, “the neighborhood has to make a decision whether to abide by it, agree with it or initiate a lawsuit against the process … I think it would be hard for them to mitigate traffic away from the site unless (the city) approves a higher traffic threshold for all city streets,” said neighborhood spokesman Roy Presley.

The $3 million pool project includes a competition pool, recreational pool and wading pool on 26,000 square feet of space at Rosita Park. Los Altos Masters swim group has agreed to operate the public facility that SPLASH has agreed to build and gift to the city.

Englar said a reduced pool center is economically feasible. Los Altos Masters successfully operated a single pool at Covington School for 14 years, she said.

The city, not SPLASH, requested two pools for the site after community members asked for a pool center that would provide more recreational swimming, Englar said. If the project proceeds with a single pool, Masters would offer the same programs that it did at Covington with less recreational swimming than the proposed plan.