An expensive consulting contract drew fire as critics grilled Mayor Gary Haakenson’s administration about Yost Pool replacements.
In October, the council approved an $83,490 feasibility study of the city’s future aquatics needs.
Since then, officials have learned that one of the three sites being studied as a possible home for a pool actually has no potential at all.
In a January meeting with the city and its consultants, officials in the Edmonds School District said they do not support building a pool at the former Woodway High School, said Brian McIntosh, the city’s parks director.
The city is studying two other sites as possible homes for a new aquatics facility: the site of Yost Pool, and a public-private partnership at the Harbor Square Athletic Club campus.
The city still intends to keep the school property in the study, because the it is flat and easy to build on, and so it functions almost as a generic site option, McIntosh said.
The city’s decision was not popular at a Jan. 14 town hall meeting attended by 100 people. That unpopularity led to an unsuccessful vote to renegotiate the consulting contract.
“I’m happy to spend money on more feasible study options,” said councilmember Steve Bernheim, who proposed the renegotiation. “But this is not an infeasibility study.”
Instead of studying the former Woodway High site and the two other sites, Bernheim would prefer to see more options studied for just two sites, he said.
McIntosh said the renegotiation was largely unnecessary, as most of the study will concentrate on aquatic needs — not on sites.
Plus, he wrote in an e-mail, “Since Yost could have a few more years, and closing it is not imminent, the results of the study may not come into play for one or two years or perhaps longer. Much can happen in the interim.”
Defenders of Yost Pool believe the city shouldn’t consider building a pool anywhere else in Edmonds, the 100 people almost unanimously said at the Jan. 14 meeting.
Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
