<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Spectators (above) and judges (below) watch as Rosalie Corrigan of Lynnwood flips in mid-air during her dive, Friday, July 15, 2005 at the annual Yost Pool bellyflop contest at Yost Park in Edmonds. (click to enlarge) For the Enterprise/SUZANNE SCHMID William Nsubuga, 4, of Bothell sizes up the competition, Tony Wilson of Bothell, while waiting to jump for 2007's annual belly-flop and cannonball contest at Yost Pool in Edmonds Park and Recreation last July .

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, Copy editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Talk of new pool heats up

• Officials say study needed before Yost Pool can be replaced

By Chris Fyall
Enterprise editor

Cathy Washington likes to swim early in the morning. It's an exercise thing, she says. Plus, the water is good for her arthritis.

Cathy Washington also likes routine.

So, five days a week, she wakes up and heads towards the public pool closest to her downtown Edmonds home -- and then she keeps driving.

Yost Pool, Edmonds' uncovered swimming pool is tucked into the wooded Yost Park overlooking Puget Sound. It is beautiful, Washington says.

But, it doesn't work for her. Yost is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

"If you are interested in getting into a routine for exercise, but you only have that routine for three months a year, you've got to find something else for nine months out of the year," Washington said.

Instead, Washington has found two alternatives: Shoreline's indoor pool for her year-round swimming needs, and a public campaign that has roused new interest.

Washington is one of the leading voices calling for a year-round, covered aquatic center in Edmonds.

It isn't a new cause, and even city officials agree with Washington to an extent.

"I think everybody wants to get moving on a (plan to replace Yost)," said parks director Brian McIntosh. "But the first step in moving on it is to get good information, and that is what we are trying to do."

McIntosh has asked for approval for a $60,000 feasibility study that would examine what sort of aquatic facility the city could support, where it should be built and how it should be paid for.

That sort of analysis is unnecessary, critics charge.

Dick van Hollebeke, a former Edmonds City Councilmember, has advocated for years for a new swimming pool. He does his off-season swimming in Lynnwood.

"Taking action on Yost is not the same as hiring a consultant," he said May 5. "(Hiring a consultant) would be a lot of money spent replowing old ground."

A 1996 feasibility study and a 1998 economic analysis resulted in a theoretical $9.2 million aquatic center that never got much momentum.

Subsequent political efforts determined that the easiest location for the center would probably be the Old Woodway High School site, van Hollebeke said.

In van Hollebeke's mind, not much has changed since then, he said.

"There is so much that we have done that just an hour's visit with an interested party at the city could eliminate much of the need to go out and spend a lot of money on consultants."

Past studies have indicated that the city could support a large, 50-meter multipurpose pool, he said. A pool that large could support multiple activities at once -- swimming in one place, and search and rescue training somewhere else. Indoor sailing, for instance, could coexist with scuba divers, van Hollebeke said.

The City Council is waiting for revisions to the parks department comprehensive plan before acting further, Council president Michael Plunkett said May 6.

The initial draft of the comprehensive plan seemed to lessen the importance of Yost improvements in parks planning documents, councilmembers said. They wanted that changed.

McIntosh is working on the master plan revisions now, McIntosh said. He isn't sure when the changes will be ready.

But he is sure that the study is the best idea, he said.

"A lot of things have changed since 1996. Particularly the costs. We need to get accurate costs," McIntosh said. "But also the trends in aquatics have probably changed -- what works and what doesn't work can change in 12 years."

If there are changes, they cannot be very fundamental, Washington said. Most citizens who commented on the parks plan in April asked for a year-round replacement for Yost. Those people were mothers and grandmothers, and not regular council going people.

That sort of consensus doesn't need to be studied, Washington said.

"It is hard for me to see how different a feasibility study would be from where I sit when we still have people coming to meetings asking, 'Why don't we have an aquatics center yet?'" she said.

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com