Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Tanya Brugh, left, and Holly Lofgren celebrated after Sunnyvale officials approved the plan for a new municipal pool.
City Council takes the plunge with pool plan
Partnership with FUHSD receives council support
By Sam Scott
Sunnyvale City Council last Tuesday agreed to bankroll a new Olympic-sized municipal pool as part of the city's $203 million 2000/2001 budget. The 50-meter pool will be built at Fremont High School in a partnership with Fremont Union High School District.
Council made little mention of other elements in the balanced budget besides the pool. Councilman Fred Fowler said much in the $203 million plan was worthy of comment, but said that he thought few in the audience wanted to hear about it.
The budget includes expanded services, including transportation upgrades and a partnership with neighboring cities to build a new animal shelter. But there was little doubt as to what attracted the majority of the crowd.
As with the public hearing on the budget two weeks prior, council chambers were filled with supporters for the pool, waving blue pennants after comments they liked.
City Manager Bob LaSala, the author of the budget, recommended against the pool for financial reasons. The city estimates its share of construction costs to be $1.6 million with annual operating responsibilities around $135,000. Officials agree the city's swim facilities are lacking, with no pool offering regular hours, but LaSala said he sees the money better spent elsewhere.
The clear majority of council, however, saw the cost as manageable.
Councilman Jim Roberts said the city's economic strength allowed it to enter the partnership. "Even with the pool included in the budget," Roberts said, "we are in the strongest economic position we've been in in some time."
Despite expenditures increasing by 9.54 percent over the previous year, the adopted budget showed a surplus of $5 million between expenses and income. Officials earmarked the reserve for surplus in leaner years.
The city share of pool construction costs represents the difference between the price tag of a 50-meter pool and a 30-meter pool, which FUHSD planned to build before the idea of partnering with the city.
Though the budget, with the pool funding in tow, enjoyed a unanimous vote of approval on Tuesday, support for the pool was not unanimous. Mayor Pat Vorreiter, unable to attend Tuesday's meeting due to other city commitments, voiced opposition to the pool at council's previous meeting.
Additionally, Councilman Tim Risch, voted in favor of the pool, but said he only did so because to vote no would be to vote against the larger budget. Were the pool examined as a separate issue, he would have voted no, he said.
Risch, who has described himself as a swimmer, said he was unsure if the pool would be widely used. He also opposed the city's financial position because of the partnership. The school district now takes charge of the project. Risch said estimates could grow and the city would have little choice but to pay, which Risch called a violation of good business practices. He made an unsuccessful motion to include a cost cap on the agreement. "Never let your wallet be open to someone else," he said.
The 6-0 vote approving the pool, prompted a round of applause from pools supporters. Holly Lofgren, head of Friends of the Fremont Pool and a persistent lobbyist for the pool, smiled after the vote. "Finally," she said.
Pool supporters have raised more than $200,000 to defray the pool's operating costs. Last year, to induce council's support, they promised to raise $1 million. Lofgren said fundraising efforts would continue in hopes of reaching that goal.
Chris Campbell, another member of FFP, said the vote released the group from a fundraising Catch-22. He said some potential donors were saying "show us the project and we'll give you the money," whereas until the city approved the project, FFP could only say "show us the money and we'll show you a project."
"Now we actually have a product to sell," he said.
The district's property services coordinator, Gene Longinetti, said the pool will now go to the FUHSD Board for a vote. Longinetti said the board had supported the plan at earlier meetings and he saw no hitches.
"I can't foresee anything that would jeopardize it," he said. Longinetti said it should be finished by June 2002 at the latest.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
