By Linda Taaffe

The city’s push to bring a public swimming pool to Los Altos hasn’t lost momentum despite recent setbacks from a neighborhood lawsuit.

The lawsuit will postpone the project at least eight more months while the city conducts a court-mandated Environmental Impact Report of the three-pool complex proposed for Rosita Park.

The Los Altos City Council last week agreed to draft a resolution showing the city’s support to move forward with a pool and back the SPLASH fund-raising group’s effort to raise $3 million for the project. The resolution does not specify a pool size or location. It reaffirms the council’s plan to build a pool complex in Los Altos.

“We need to give SPLASH some ammunition to go forward and raise some money,” Councilman Lou Becker said. There has been a lot of contention. The community doesn’t know what sort of facility is needed. We need to clarify our support. If we make a resolution, SPLASH will have something concrete to put in front of the people.”

The council already committed to fund the EIR study in a show of support earlier this year.

“I think that speaks volumes of the council’s commitment,” Councilman John Moss said.

SPLASH has raised approximately $1 million of the estimated $3 million needed to build the project. That amount is based on a three-pool complex estimate given in 2001.

Spokeswoman Kathy Englar said misinformation rather than prolonged studies could delay the project. Potential donors are uncertain of the pool’s fate.

“The public is really confused,” Englar said. “The project is not dead. The city is conducting an EIR and will make adjustments based on those findings.”

SPLASH teamed up with the city in 2001 to bring a community pool to Los Altos after the Los Altos School District demolished the public pool at Covington when it converted the campus back into an elementary school. SPLASH agreed to provide the funding if the city would provide the land and construct the pool.

Los Altos City Council gives pool campaign giant push forward The proposed plan for the Los Altos Community Aquatic Center under review includes a 25-meter-by-25-yard competition-sized pool, a recreational pool, a wading pool and a locker room on a 32,000-square-foot site, adjacent to the former St. William’s Parish Hall and Covington School.

A neighborhood lawsuit has temporarily put pool plans on hold while consultant group David J. Beals studies the impacts that a three-pool complex could have on the Rosita neighborhood, as mandated by a judge. Rosita neighbors sued the city to stop the proposed complex until further studies were conducted. Traffic and noise were key neighborhood concerns. The study will indicate whether the city should not build a pool at the site; modify plans; or move forward with the proposed three-pool complex.

Part of the council’s push to move forward with a pool included possibly bringing a new configuration to the table. Council asked staff if a single, swimming pool complex with tennis courts on site could be added to the list of scenarios that consultants will review, along with a court-mandated environmental study without causing schedule delays.

Consultant group David J. Powers & Associates started the estimated eight-month study this month. The projected timeline will allow public input on the draft EIR about five months into the study.

“Economics is a driving factor. With the current economics, we will probably only see one pool,” Councilman Francis La Poll said about the pool project, which is contingent on public donations being raised by the community group SPLASH.

“We really need to make a commitment and need to help SPLASH raise money,” Councilman Lou Becker said. “If we do something to scale down the project, it would help SPLASH target it down and make it more practical in terms of raising funds.”

Council described the alternative as “a small, public club” for the community.

A change in scope won’t impact whether SPLASH continues its commitment to raise money for a public pool in Los Altos, Englar said.

“We made a commitment to the city to design and raise money to construct the kind of pool that the city needs. We’re not driving anything,” she said.

Englar said a reduction in water space would not greatly impact programs. The pools could be made narrower and still accommodate activities outlined in the business plan. A reduced pool center is economically feasible. Los Altos Masters successfully operated a single pool at Covington School for 14 years, she said.

“We can do as much in a smaller space. It’s not as much of a detriment as you think,” Englar said. “Wall space (length) is the driving factor.”

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, she said.

Neighbors said they protest the size, not the concept of a community pool.

City staff is scheduled to return to council Aug. 26 regarding whether an alternative pool configuration may be included in the EIR.