ALAMEDA — A $12 million community swim center could open in three and a half years, on New Year’s Eve 2023, as a result of an agreement hammered out between the city and the Alameda Unified School District.
Just where the center will be located, however, still must be decided.
The top contender is Alameda High School, where the current Emma Hood Swim Center would be replaced and expanded, according to city and school district officials who crafted the agreement between the school district and city.
If the center is built on school district property, the district’s sports teams and physical education classes would get priority scheduling, plus the city would waive fees for school practices and other events.
The memorandum, approved by the City Council on June 18, follows the Alameda County Environmental Health Department flagging problems at Emma Hood and threatening to close it May 31 unless they were fixed.
However, the county was willing to keep the center open if basic fixes were made and a plan was developed for the center’s future, including possibly replacing it.
“We have received written confirmation from the county that they will allow the district and city to keep the pool open after short-term repairs are made,” Amy Woolridge, interim assistant city manager, told the council. “Those repairs will be made by the school district this summer with the hope to reopen it for the (upcoming) school year.”
Emma Hood is expected to remain closed through September.
The city and the district have set a December deadline for a final property agreement for a new center.
Along with the current Emma Hood site, other possible locations for a future swim center include Lincoln Park on High Street and near the Albert H. DeWitt O’Club at the former Alameda Naval Air Station.
Lincoln Park has limited parking and the anticipated noise and night-time lighting of a swim center could be a problem for nearby residents, while the former base is near Encinal High School, where a swim center already exists, Woolridge said in a report for the council.
Both sites are not easily reached by Alameda High School students, especially on foot, she said.
Leasing a site from the school district for a future center makes the most financial sense, the report said.
If the district were to put up Emma Hood for sale, state law requires that the property first be declared surplus and then offered for purchase to public entities, such as the city. But if the fair market value proved too high and the city could not come up with the money, the site could end up in a public sale.
State law also allows, however, for surplus school district property to be offered for less than fair market value if it’s going to be used for a park, public recreation purposes or as open space.
The county initially flagged problems at Emma Hood as far back as 2010. But it held off closing the facility so that the city and district could seek funding to pay for a long-term solution.
Managed jointly by the city and school district, the approximately 60-year-old center has a swimming pool and a smaller, deeper dive pool. There is also a locker room.
Problems include water in the two pools at the center mixing because of piping, making it difficult to verify the required six-hour turnover rates. Pool access for the disabled also needs to be improved.
Just to fix the code violations could cost up to $1.7 million, according to the city.
Along with piping problems, the plaster in both pools needs to be replaced and the pool deck gets too slippery and poses a hazard, according to the county.
In 2011, new filters and a new chlorine system were installed at Emma Hood. Leaking water pipes were replaced two years later.
U.S. Masters Swimming, a nonprofit swimming organization for adults, and the city’s park department are among those who use pools for lessons and other aquatic programs.
Vice Mayor John Knox White singled out the city’s swimming community for supporting the effort to get the memorandum in place before the county’s deadline for closing Emma Hood.
“They really rallied together to work as part of the process to help move this forward,” White said.
The accord calls for a property agreement between the city and school district to be achieved by Dec. 31 and for construction of a swim center to start by May 31, 2022.
The other swim center that the city and district jointly operate at Encinal Junior and Senior High School was replaced in October 2016. The approximately $2 million cost was covered through an exchange of lands and funds among the city, the school district and the Alameda Housing Authority.
Funding options for a future center include putting an infrastructure bond on the November 2020 ballot, private donations and a public-private partnership, according to Wooldridge.
Under an agreement made in December 2016, the school district is responsible for maintaining the pools at the two campuses, with overall operating costs are split equally between the district and the city.
The total overall budget for the two facilities is about $300,000 annually, according to city and school officials.