HomeMy WebLinkAbout022624 email - Jefferson County poolALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
City council and County Board of Commissioners,
The latest flyer put out by the JeffCo Aquatic Coalition (JAC) is a red herring (see attached document--the flyer). The first line of the flyer states "Soon, our county could lose its
only public pool." The important word here is COULD, and the rest of the flyer predicts some catastrophic events after the closure of the pool. However, this scenario exists only
in the minds of the JAC. Nobody except for this group is talking about any need to close the pool.
This is a tactic well known and used by pressure groups in convincing the pubic that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE. They want a new, shiny 30,000 square foot pool complex complete with a "lazy
river" inside and showers outside for the homeless and people who live illegally on the streets in their RVs.
In the last month we visited the other pools in our area and talked to the administrators in each of these facilities.
The Sequim pool, run by the YMCA, is about 12.000 square feet in the pool area including the adjoining sauna, hot tub, showers and dressing facilities. There is also an additional gym
area of about 8,000 square feet on the site. The 2020 census of Sequim showed about 8,000 residents.
The Port Angeles (Shore Aquatic Center) facility, newly refurbished about 3 years ago, is 30,000 square feet. Port Angeles' census in 2020 showed 77,700 residents.
The Port Townsend 2020 census showed 10,150 residents (roughly equivalent to Sequim) and the existing pool facility measures about 10,000 square feet.
The City Council should investigate what is the source of the tens of thousands of dollars already spent for plans and architectural drawings for the new pool facility, all done by firms
outside this area (Colorado and Portland, Oregon) and why this new trophy pool takes precedence over the crumbling roads and desperately needed upgrade to our ancient sewage system.
Thank you,
Richard Thomas
Susan Thomas (we are long-time residents of Port Townsend)
publiccomment@cityofpt.us <mailto:publiccomment@cityofpt.us>
JeffBoCC@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:JeffBoCC@co.jefferson.wa.us>