HomeMy WebLinkAbout112123 Yesterday’s aquatic center meetingALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Dear Jefferson County Commissioners,
I attended the meeting yesterday regarding the pool. I came to listen, and did not speak. I should point out I live between Hadlock and PT, I am not a PT city resident. I own my home.
I use the pool and support a new pool.
Here are my takeaways, that make me support the pool being built ASAP, as proposed, in PT.
1. The proposal for changing location to a Hadlock pool puts a new pool years away. The process of approval and purchase of a new site, it’s cost, new design, environmental assessment,
etc., have already been done for the site location in PT. Spending this money again seems wasteful. The roof of the existing pool could fail in the meantime.
2. The question of location for the pool in PT, with the largest population of all Jefferson County cities, makes reasonable sense. If PT has the largest population, won’t cumulative
taxes from these residents be more than the smaller communities?
I have to conduct business all over the Peninsula, so 10 min here or 10 min there is a false issue regarding location. I believe the budding Transit System can assist with transport
to the pool. I have no doubt the schools in Chimacum and Quilcene will want to participate in a new facility, and they will benefit from it.
One commissioner mentioned that the smaller communities don’t have the population density to support the infrastructure of a new pool.
3. Port Townsend has always been a hub, the County Courthouse is there! The Hospital is there! Having the County Pool there, where one already exists, is sensible.
4. The people who spoke against the pool all spoke with vague, emotional responses, rather than factual information that would explain why stopping this years-long process would be
wise. I have observed people over the last year gear up their protests; posting anti-tax, anti-pool, anti-Port Townsend statements on social media. My neighbor printed up the No-PT
pool tax signs ( she is worried it might hurt her gym business if there are exercise facilities included) , and another neighbor has been posting misinformation and untruths about the
size and cost of the pool on line almost daily.
Port Townsend is not in opposition to Hadlock, Chimacum, or Quilcene, we are all in this together. Being against something like a sales tax to pay for a pool is selfish, and should
not be allowed to dictate how this County grows. Many say they don’t want to pay for a Port Townsend pool, but it’s a Jefferson County pool and should be promoted as such. Hadlock
has a beautiful library that I use, for example. Other examples; I buy my flour and bread (Chimacum Grainery) and vegetables (Farm Stands, Chimacum market) in Chimacum, because they
are the freshest. I shop at the QFC in Hadlock as often as I do in PT. As the area grows, so will the services that are available to locals, and county residents in all locations.
5. I understand the need for each commissioner to support their district residents, so hearing lots of anti-pool, anti-tax, anti-Port Townsend statements requires a commissioner to
step lightly. But it is the responsibility of the commissioners to come together, and explain to each district why remaking the pool into a bigger, better community facility in PT
is the right thing to do now. Because it is.
Thank you for your time.
Gwen Demombynes
Jefferson County Resident