By Linda Taaffe

Los Altos can move forward with a community swimming pool project at Rosita Park, a superior court judge decided Aug. 16.

Santa Clara County Judge Leslie Nichols determined that the city has complied with the court’s 2003 request to conduct further environmental studies on the project.

“The city acted in accordance with the requirements of the writ, and, among other things, suspended all activity that could result in any change or alteration to the physical environment until it complied with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act,” according to Nichols’ ruling,

The project was tied up in court for more than a year after a group of residents organized as the Rosita Neighborhood Coalition sued the city over unresolved traffic and noise concerns identified in initial environmental studies related to the proposed project. In the lawsuit, neighbors claimed that the city did not comply with California’s Environmental Quality Act.

Nichols’ decision means the city may build a center with as many as two pools and a wading pool as initially proposed at Rosita Park or as little as nothing at the site. The approval doesn’t guarantee a pool or when it should be built, said Community Development Director James Walgren.

The Los Altos City Council added an aquatic center at Rosita Park to the city’s 2005-06 Capital Improvement Projects budget but they have not approved a specific plan.

Members say the community should have a pool center that is appropriate for the neighborhood as well as the community at large. They have not, however, decided what such a

compromise would look like. The size, timeline and details are still undetermined.

A citizen’s task force that includes neighbors, pool proponents and city officials is scheduled to look at options. The council was scheduled to meet in closed session Tuesday and had not given staff any direction by the Town Crier’s press deadline, said Public Works Director Jim Porter.

Members of the fund-raising group Swimmers Promoting Los Altos Aquatics, Safety and Health (SPLASH) teamed up with the city in 2001 to re-establish a community pool in 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.

Swimmers say the community would best be served by at least two pools with different temperatures - a cooler one for competitive swimming and a warmer one for lessons.

Rosita residents said they are not against a pool, but against a complex; the neighborhood can withstand the impact of one pool at most.