Forks pool remains empty; no plans for reopening on horizon

Published 12:01 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

FORKS — The Quillayute Valley Aquatic Center — already the first North Olympic Peninsula public pool closed because of money shortages — remains without a reliable funding source.

Sandra Carter, Quillayute Valley Park and Recreation District board president, said her agency relies on fundraising throughout the year to support the $10,000 per year it must spend on insurance.

“We’re still at the same place we have been,” Carter said.

Other expenses for the district amount to about $20,000 per year, meaning it must raise about $30,000 just to remain in existence, Carter said.

The Quillayute Valley Aquatic Center, 91 Maple Ave., Forks, opened in July 2005 after voters approved a $2.9 million bond in 2000 to build it.

It was closed in September 2006 after voters turned away two maintenance and operation tax levy measures.

Another measure, which would have created a new taxing agency — a metropolitan park and recreation district — was voted down last November by a margin of about 65 percent to 35 percent.

The recreation district board is operating with three vacancies, Carter said.

It meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at the Forks Community Center, 91 Maple Ave.

Interested people can phone Carter at 360-374-7533.