Title
Discussion on the Status of the Emma Hood Swim Center at Alameda High School and Provide Direction as to Options for Swim Facilities in Alameda. (Recreation and Parks 280)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: David L. Rudat, Interim City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Emma Hood Swim Center, located at Alameda High School, is an aging facility that is in need of significant repair/replacement. The pools are operated and maintained by the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) under a Joint Use Agreement with the City. Recently, the Alameda County Environmental Health Department (ACEHD) cited significant code concerns at the pool that were “grandfathered” and allowed to not be addressed for many years. Now ACEHD is requiring closure of the Swim Center pools in May 2019 unless the issues are addressed and brought up to code. Both the AUSD Board of Education and the Alameda City Council are discussing this issue to determine next steps and options to continue to provide aquatic facilities for students and the community.
BACKGROUND
AUSD and the City of Alameda (City) have a Joint Use Agreement under which AUSD currently operates and maintains the swim centers at both Alameda and Encinal High Schools. The City manages the schedule for both swim facilities. The cost of operation, maintenance and improvements is equally shared between AUSD and the City.
The Emma Hood Swim Center is located on the Alameda High School campus and has a swim pool and a smaller, deeper, dive pool. Both pools and the locker room are decades old and in poor condition.
In 2010, the ACEHD raised public safety and code violation concerns. The City and AUSD staff met and addressed a number of the issues raised by ACEHD including installing new filters, heaters, chlorine system, and a chemical feed controller, which increased the flow rate much higher than it had been previously. In 2013, all of the mechanical equipment and leaking water pipes were replaced. In 2015, a new pool opened at Encinal High School. Prior to the construction, the Encinal pool’s condition was worse than Emma Hood Swim Center.
In the past, ACEHD has been willing to allow code violations to occur while AUSD and the City attempted to find long-term solutions and funding. ACEHD is now requiring closure of both pools at the Emma Hood Swim Center in May 2019 unless the issues are addressed and brought up to code.
The primary code violations cited recently by ACEHD include the following:
• Both pools have co-mingled water with a single pipe system and one pump room. Consequently, the facility lacks the ability to verify that each pool is meeting the required 6-hour turnover rate.
• The plaster in both pools must be refinished.
• The pool deck is a slip and fall safety concern and lacks overall ADA access.
Overall, the facility, which includes the pools and locker rooms, is in poor, outdated condition, and yet is fully booked seven days a week. During the school year, the pool is used from 5:30 am until the start of the school day, then after school until 9:00 pm, and all day on weekends. During the summer, both pools are used all day, every day. Users include AUSD water polo, swim and dive teams (307 participants), community youth swim and water polo teams (387 participants), adult Masters swim team, water polo drop-in play (60 participants), ARPD swim lessons (607 participants), and recreation swim and lap swim (2,001 participants). These groups are all 95% - 99% Alameda residents with water polo having slightly lower resident rates of 75% - 80%.
On February 13, 2019, the AUSD/City Subcommittee held a meeting to discuss this topic at which many aquatic community members attended and spoke. The committee members asked their respective Board/Council representatives to discuss this issue as expeditiously as feasible, and work to identify a subcommittee that could work with AUSD and City staff to identify community needs and uses and on short- and long-term solutions.
DISCUSSION
An assessment report was issued by an AUSD consultant that reviewed the code violations and determined costs for repair as well as replacement of the Emma Hood pools, with one pool that is similar in size and shape to the new Encinal High School pool and that meets California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) requirements for water polo and swimming competitions.
This report lists the following options and associated costs. All costs are based on the project being under Division of the State Architect (DSA), which provides design and construction oversight for all K-12 schools in California.
1) Repair the swim pool and eliminate the dive pool:$1.7 M
This option addresses the code concerns and provides a continued practice facility for the community and school swim teams on a limited basis since the swim pool is too shallow for starting blocks and water polo use. This option, however, does not meet CIF requirements.
2) Repair both the dive and swim pools: $3.6 M
This option addresses the code concerns and provides a continued practice facility for all community and school teams. This option, however, does not meet CIF requirements.
3) New replacement pool: $5.2 M to $7 M
These costs are based on the Encinal Swim Center design of one pool that meets the CIF requirements for swimming, water polo, and diving. It lacks certain aspects for community use such as a gradual entry for seniors.
4) Demolish both pools or close the pools until funding is identified: $250,000 to demolish or $125,000 annually to operate the pools in closed condition. Chemical balances and other safety aspects must be maintained even when the pools are closed.
There are several short-term tasks and long-term options for the Council to consider.
Short-term options
• Appoint a working subcommittee that includes both Council and Board representatives. This committee would work with staff from both agencies to identify what the community needs and create a long-term plan with specific milestones.
• Direct staff to meet with ACEHD staff to further discuss options to keep the pools open if these milestones are met and ultimately funding is secured.
Long-term options
• Consider building a City swim center with community input. This could include additional amenities such as a splash pad, shaded picnic area and seating. It creates a number of opportunities to expand aquatic programming in Alameda. It will allow for year-round programming for tiny tots, seniors, swim lessons, and lunch time lap swim, all of which are not currently available. Expanded programming could also include a Junior Lifeguard program, Family Swim activities, community events such as “Swim-in Movies,” and birthday party rentals. The splash pad could be used by children of all ages and is often requested by the community. It is important to consider that a City swim center will incur both the initial construction and furnishing expenses as well as ongoing annual operation and maintenance costs. Pools are generally an overall expense and do not recover costs due to high operational costs.
• Consider location for a City swim center. The existing site at Alameda High School is ideal as it’s near the parking garage and Park Street, which provides economic development as people aredrawn from the aquatic programs to restaurants and other businesses on Park Street. However, this would require working with AUSD to transfer the land to the City since, otherwise, it would be under DSA requirements. School aquatic teams would continue to have priority as they do at all City athletic facilities. Other locations have not yet been identified, but can be reviewed by the working subcommittee.
• Determine funding options. This could include a proposed City infrastructure bond (potential measure for November 2020 ballot), identifying private donors, or a public-private partnership, which can provide financing options such as developer-financed construction or lease/leaseback structures.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from this discussion. Any potential options that require funding, such as improvements or replacement, will be brought back to City Council for further discussion and budget allocation.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action does not affect the Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Guidelines Sections 15301 (Repair, maintenance and/or minor alteration of an existing facility). If a City Swim Center is planned, then CEQA will be addressed at that time.
RECOMMENDATION
Discuss the status of the Emma Hood Swim Center at Alameda High School and provide direction as to the options for Swim Facilities in Alameda.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director / Interim Assistant City Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director