Many Santa Clara swimmers are still irate that the George F. Haines International Swim Center (ISC) is closed.
The pool being out of commission has been a sore spot for swimmers since hazardous conditions forced the city to close it last year. Since then, aquatics enthusiasts have regularly turned out in droves to the council meetings to insist the city expedite getting the pool operational.
Last month, contractors began repairs, with the city anticipating re-opening the pool later this year.
In late June last year, the Santa Clara City Council allocated $1.86 million to get the pool operational. That money aimed to address a slew of conditions that Santa Clara County deemed unsafe.
A city-hired consultant, LPA, buttressed the county assessment, noting several areas of the pool that needed to be brought up to snuff before swimmers could occupy it safely. Areas in need of repair include the administrative building, dive tower and diving well, the training and racing pools, the bleachers and perimeter fence and gates.
Because of the cost, the allocated money is unable to pay for repairs needed to get the dive tower, diving well and administrative building operational.
In January 2024, the city closed the ISC until it could fix the hazards. Originally, the city manager and his team recommended the ISC remain closed until the city could build a new pool. However, the council — on the heels of public outcry — insisted on a solution that would allow the pool to reopen before that.
Several city employees said allocated money is likely a sunk cost.
In October, the council approved a $420,072 pool replastering contract with Adams Pool Solutions. However, as with most government contracts, that contract contained a contingency that allowed the cost to balloon to $820,072.
At that meeting, Mayor Lisa Gillmor pulled the item to award the contract from the consent calendar. She challenged why the work was taking so long.
In an email exchange, Janine De la Vega, the city’s public information officer, said the city has also hired Tucker Construction to fix the ISC’s fences.
The city has been posting updates to the construction on the parks and recreation website. Contractors drained the racing and training pools Jan. 6 and began construction Jan. 13.
The timeline for the construction seems to be a moving target. When the council approved the Adams Pool Solutions contract last year, estimates had construction seeing completion at the end of March.
Then, in an update on the site earlier this year, construction was supposed to be finished the first half of April, but the city noted that the time is subject to “unforeseen variables, such as supply chain issues, labor availability, weather, unexpected repairs, and County of Santa Clara permit acquisition.”
Most recently, De la Vega wrote, the project is likely to take even longer.
“As the contractor was in the middle of work, they discovered unforeseen damage to the structure which may impact the timeline beyond [s]pring,” she wrote.
Despite the delay and four change-orders, De la Vega wrote, the project is still within budget.
The city has yet to give a date the ISC is likely to reopen, but De la Vega wrote that when it does, the building will be limited to hosting 200 people. The reduced capacity will alter programming, but she did not detail in what way, simply writing that the parks and recreation is developing summer programming with “capacity issues in mind.”
If the city can prove to the county that it has fixed the violations, the county will issue a permit for temporarily re-opening the ISC. If or when that happens, De la Vega wrote, both the training and racing pools and mobile, portable showers and restrooms will be available for use.
In November, voters passed a $400 million infrastructure bond. That bond’s parameters earmarked $45 million for constructing a new swim center. However, City Manager Jovan Grogan recently said that “philanthropic dollars may be needed” to fully fund construction.
The city is forming community oversight and community aquatics steering committees. Those committees will work with city employees and the city council to “prioritize projects and ensure transparency while taking a holistic approach to meeting the community’s infrastructure needs, including the ISC,” De la Vega wrote.
The committees will recommend swim center improvements to the council. Once the bonds are issued, construction of a new swim center is estimated to take between 18 months and two years.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
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