Sinking fast
It’s between swim times on a Tuesday evening at Comstock Pool. The water sparkles, beckoning the arriving adult swimmers. From the pool deck, all appears well. However, the pump room where the pool is heated and filtered tells a different story – a story of decades of wear and increasing obsolescence.
The pipes, some originals from 1937, are rusted. The smell of stagnant water and chemicals fills the room. Years of water dripping from the pool has formed small stalactites that hang from the ceiling, and the floor is dotted with puddles of water.
“The city should use the basement room as a Halloween haunted house,” said Aquatics Citizens Advisory Committee member Mary Gaddy after touring the facility at Comstock. On June 28, members of the advisory committee, along with Aquatics Program supervisor Sarah Ranson and Tony Madunich, assistant division manager of park operations, toured Witter, Comstock and Shadle pools for a behind-the-scenes look.
The poor physical condition, limited recreational activities, and the high operating costs, exacerbated by the tradition of free swimming, have caused Spokane Parks and Recreation Department to re-evaluate its aquatic system.
The seven-person citizens advisory committee was formed at the end of May. Members volunteered to evaluate aquatic options and tour facilities across the state. The committee expects to make recommendations to the Park Board in October.
Madunich said the life span of a community swimming pool is 20 years, and that Spokane is 20 years into the last major renovations done in 1985.
“We’ve done a good job of finding ways to patch 80-year-old holes. The pools are safe and clean right now, but the writing’s on the wall. They’re beginning to go downhill, and they’re picking up speed,” said Madunich.
Other problems at Comstock include a temperamental pump that is subject to power surges; leaking of the deep-end wall into the pump room; pipes hanging on by a thread; and wet, slippery floors in both changing rooms.
At Witter Pool east of Mission Park, the group saw water leaking in the basement, a nonoperational water slide and corroded pipe supports in a tunnel. The pool is not handicap accessible, has a sump pump that fails regularly, and a poorly designed gutter system, and parking is an issue during swim meets and peak times.
Park Board president Jeff Halstead said that the board is trying to bring the citizen advisory group up to speed to get input from it’s members.
“I don’t want to educate them to think like we are thinking. I would like to give them the options and have them see what they see. Once they come to a conclusion, then the next step is to get in contact with our user groups,” said Halstead.
The Park Department hopes to have a new state-of-the-art spray pad up and running at Shadle Park no later than Sept. 1, in time for the public to comment about it.
The spray pad will have 12 play features, including ground water jets, waterfall, buckets that fill and spill, and water cannons for water fights.
“The spray pad at Shadle may be so popular that people may think they’re as much fun as swimming at a pool,” said Halstead.
According to the Parks Department, the aquatics program is the most costly recreational program in the park system at approximately $750,000 per year.
It costs about $10,000 per day to keep Spokane’s six pools open during the summer, or an average of almost $8 per swimmer. With the decline of revenue for the parks budget and estimated budget cuts of $1 million in 2007, the aquatics program is being re-evaluated.
Halstead said that there are several options to improve aquatics in Spokane.
“If I were to wave a magic wand, knowing how much Spokane loves free swimming, I would say keep some swimming free, close some pools and then upgrade to better facilities. This way kids can swim free if they want to, or they can have a better experience and be charged for it.”
By better facilities, Halstead is referring to contemporary aquatic parks, like the Henry Moses Aquatic Center in Renton, Wash., which the advisory committee will visit this summer.
The center offers a lap pool, water slides, a leisure pool with zero depth (gradual) entry wave machines, water spray play areas, island lagoon, and an area set aside for toddlers. The center also features large sun and shade spaces, a bathhouse and concession area.
Admission for Renton residents is $4 to $6. Lap swim only, family and season passes are also available. According to Halstead, the Renton facility made $150,000 its first year of operation.
“We’re hoping that these new facilities would pay for themselves so that we don’t have so much money coming out of the park fund. It’s a complex issue. We’re hoping by next spring or fall to be able to bring a plan to the voters.
“Our city has a lot of needs right now, but we’re trying to be pro-active. Otherwise our pools are going to crash. We want to prevent that. We want to take the right steps so that, as we say, ‘We’re going to leave no child dry,’ ” said Halstead.