PORT TOWNSEND — The YMCA of Jefferson County is seeking public input about its planned new facility at the Mountain View Commons, one officials hope will increase county recreation options.
Preliminary plans for the facility will be posted on the YMCA website at www.jeffersoncountyymca.org by the end of this week.
The cost is estimated between $13 million and $15 million for a building between 47,000 and 52,000 square feet.
Fundraising and construction would take about five years ending in 2020, estimates Kyle Cronk, Olympic Peninsula YMCA CEO, who is headquartered in Port Angeles.
The YMCA unveiled the preliminary plan for the first time publicly Saturday at a fundraiser at the USO Building at Fort Worden State Park that raised $63,000 for Jefferson County youth development programs.
“We heard from many people that this new facility is exactly what we need to encourage people to stay in Jefferson County,” Cronk said.
“What is built will depend on what the community tells us that it wants,” he added.
The new facility at 1919 Blaine St., as planned now, would include a pool, a gymnasium, a teaching kitchen, a wellness facility and an indoor track.
As part of the partnership with Jefferson Healthcare hospital, the facility could include a satellite rehabilitation clinic.
The plans and a way to provide feedback options will be posted on the organization’s website soon, Cronk said.
At Saturday’s presentation, the most popular ideas were the possibility of having two pools operated at different temperatures and a large gymnasium that could be divided into two for separate activities, Cronk said.
Such ideas elevate costs estimates, he added.
Some proposed additions were a slide and a climbing wall inside the pool.
Suggestions were made to move the stairs and elevators into less obtrusive areas.
As the various aspects were presented, attendees were asked to say what excited them, what was missing and what questions they had, to be pasted on the presentation boards with Post-it notes.
Cronk said all the accumulated feedback will be catalogued and discussed at a yet-unscheduled meeting that includes all of the partners in the venture.
The partners are the YMCA, the Jefferson Aquatic Coalition, the city of Port Townsend, Jefferson Healthcare and the Port Townsend School District.
During the next few months, the YMCA will present preliminary plans at local service clubs as well as sponsor two public meetings: on April 29 at the Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101, and May 27 at the Port Townsend Recreation Center, 620 Tyler St.
Both meetings will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Most aspects of the facility can and will change, according to Cronk.
The only certainty is its location.
It is planned for the area adjacent to the Mountain View complex that already contains the police station, nonprofits, a pool and a gymnasium.
The current pool would stay open until the new one was completed, Cronk said, but the eventual disposition of the old buildings would influence the new facility’s footprint.
“It’s up to the city to determine what to do with old pool,” Cronk said.
“But I think that it’s unlikely they’ll keep it open after the new one is finished.”
The construction of a full-service, membership-driven Jefferson County YMCA building had been discussed for several years before it gained traction in 2014 after a community survey demonstrated interest in such a facility, as well as indicated a preference for its location at the Mountain View complex.
The YMCA will spend the remainder of this year assembling a fundraising feasibility study that will determine the projected budget.
Once completed, the fundraising campaign will begin, followed by the design phase and building construction,
The current plan includes double present capacity in its gymnasium and pool, but this could be scaled back if the financial study found the need to cut costs.
The current plan includes a one-fourth-mile indoor track.
That could be scaled back due to funding.
“If you ask anyone, they would rather have a larger pool and a larger gym, but it depends on how much we think we can raise,” Cronk said.
The main classroom building, which now houses the police station and the food bank among other nonprofits, would stay in place and be renovated through money raised by a $3.6 million bond issue approved by voters in February.
For more information, go to www.jeffersoncountyymca.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
