PORT ANGELES — Potential cost increases were factored into a proposed $13.8 million aquatics center bond issue appearing before city voters in the upcoming election.
That’s the message delivered Monday afternoon by bond campaign co-chair and former Deputy Mayor Orville Campbell to the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce at its regular luncheon at the Port Angeles CrabHouse restaurant.
If construction costs increase, the aquatics center price tag won’t exceed the $13.8 million figure set by the City Council at its Sept. 5 meeting, Campbell said.
The council established the construction amount at $13.8 million in the bond resolution, so it can’t return to the voters to ask for more money, he said.
If the costs exceed that amount, then the project must be scaled back, Campbell said.
The aquatics center, if operated and maintained by the Clallam County Family YMCA, also would relieve the city of its current $250,000 annual operating subsidy on the current William Shore Memorial Pool to be replaced, he said.
“If we don’t invest and re-invest in our community, no one will. If you own property, you must be interested in this issue,” Campbell said.
Francis Street site
The bond issue to build an aquatics center and leave space for a future indoor soccer and tennis building at the Clallam County Family YMCA site at 302 S. Francis St. will appear on the ballot in the Oct. 19-Nov. 7 all-mail election.
The design includes a 51,447-square-foot building with spectator seating for 160 people plus a pool deck and 400 lockers.
It has 2,130 square feet of lap swimming space in six 25-meter lanes, and 4,800 square feet of leisure pool space in three 25-meter lanes plus a diving area.
It also has an irregular-shaped leisure pool, a spa pool, a dry training room, deck circulation and sitting areas and a family patio area, and a mezzanine viewing area.
Shore pool aging
Campbell said the current William Shore pool was state-of-the-art when it was built in 1961 but now is worn out and won’t last very much longer.
The aquatics center will take 12 months to design, followed by a three-month bid advertising and award process and 18 months to build, Campbell said.
So the new aquatics center will probably open in January 2010, he said.
“It’s three years away, but we must decide now,” Campbell said.
Current estimated cost
The current estimated cost to taxpayers of the bond is 83 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation, but the city has had a record-setting amount of new construction in addition to the western annexation that will go on assessment rolls next year, Campbell said.
So that 83 cents per $1,000 figure could drop to as low as 70 cents, he said.
YMCA Executive Director Dan Maguire said, given the publicity surrounding the failed swimming pool levy in Forks, people might want to compare the two projects — but they couldn’t be more different.
Forks decided to build a standard swimming pool instead of an aquatics center that appeals to more users, which might have caused the levy to fail, Maguire told the chamber audience.
Based upon good marketing surveys, YMCA members could see a 15 percent dues increase, Maguire said.
Aberdeen is a city of 24,000 with a median income of $30,700, and the Grays Harbor YMCA — which has an aquatics center — has member revenue of $1 million, Maguire said.
Port Angeles is a city of 20,000 with a median income of $41,100, and the Clallam County YMCA has member revenue of $600,000, he said.
So the additional revenue from members who join the Y because of the aquatics center could increase revenue to a level comparable to Aberdeen’s, Maguire said.
Campbell said “there’s not a strong chance” of the city and YMCA parting ways during the life of the aquatics center, but the current contract spells out the options, including the city taking over operation and maintenance of the pool.
But that decision has yet to be made, he said.
Maguire said bond supporters researched tourist impacts and, suprisingly, the project works financially if there are no tourists at all.
But they expect a lot of out-of-town visitors based on Aberdeen’s experience, he said.
“It’s a 50-year project, so it makes sense to get ahead of the curve,” he said.
Campbell said there’s no funding in the bond issue to do anything to the existing William Shore pool.