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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJune 27 2024 MinutesPage | 1 MINUTES Additional information provided from South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District Sixth Meeting - Healthier Together Task Force – Jefferson County Meeting Minutes June 27, 2024 – 6:00 p.m. Jefferson County Commissioners Chambers In-person for members – The public is not allowed – Zoom available Task Force members in attendance. District 1: Todd McGuire District 1: Nancy Speser District 2: Jim Scarantino District 2: Celeste Schoenthaler - Absent District 3: Adele Govert District 3: Lynne Hovde At Large Member (JeffCo Aquatic Coalition rep): Cray Henry At Large Member (JeffCo Aquatic Coalition rep): Mary Rothschild Additional attendees included: Commissioner Greg Brotherton, Facilitator Diane McDade, JeffCo Aquatic Coalition President Carrie Hite, Director of Parks and Recreation Strategy for City of Port Townsend Matt Simms, Board of Commissioner with the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District 1. Commissioner Greg Brotherton called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. He discussed the agenda and there were no changes. He started the meeting by asking people to introduce themselves and share an icebreaker question. 3. Mat Simms, from the Board of Commissioners of the South Whidbey Parks and Recrea�on District, presented about their pool and process. In summary he discussed: • South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District started the process in the early 1990s. • They completed an early draft of the design within their steering committee, based on survey results, using 3D modeling software. The survey feedback guided them to consider environmental impact, so the early design included solar panels. Other survey feedback indicated the public valued the outdoors and early designs Page | 2 were intended to connect inside and outside spaces to make it feel like it was an outdoor pool. • They wanted to minimize their environmental impact so they chose a location roughly equidistant between population centers, the public schools, near the only highway in the district, and on a public transit line. • They defined 17,000 people in their primary service area and an additional 10- 12,000 in their secondary service area. • Environmental stewardship was important in the decision-making process. • Historically they failed bonds in 1996 and 2008. • They completed a post-election review after 2008 and initially designed a three- tank pool to accommodate the needs expressed in the community survey. • Their plans include portable seating for 125-150 to accommodate medium-sized events like swim meets, water safety classes, and other public and private events. • Adjustments were made to their design to accommodate the size of the budget. • Myrtha pools was chosen based on both swimming and economic performance. They figured out capital cost was roughly equal (between shotcrete pools and steel pools) and with Myrtha they obtained a 25-year warranty which was appealing from the standpoint of maintenance and operations. • They are using design/bid/build, but have not gone out to bid yet. There is a contingency plan for this. • They looked at and quote alternative construction techniques with both Sprung and Legacy Building Solutions, and opted for a traditional design due to the costs of an architectural membrane structure being closer to traditional construction than originally thought (due to significant infrastructure and build-out costs of fabric structures given the interior design of the South Whidbey facility). • The wastewater system was designed as an L.O.S.S. (septic) system with the site being roughly a mile from the nearest municipal septic system. To reduce the size of the drain fields they switched the filtration technology from sand filters to regenerative media filters, saving roughly 5,000 gallons of backflush volume per week. In their final calculations a worst-case drain field sizing was detailed below (from their septic feasibility study). • Total time to work with the Department of Ecology was estimated at 3 years, based on a recent project on South Whidbey conducted by the Island Athletic Club. Total cost estimate is between $1.5M and $2M. Page | 3 • Their total cost for the facility and the site is $27M, with the building at approximately $1,000 per square foot. • The Myrtha pools sit on top of a cement pad. The ARC architect wasn’t in favor of steel pools because of an assumption, eventually proven incorrect, that the cost of those pools was higher than for equivalent shotcrete pools. Their steering committee made it a hard specification for the architect. • The Parks and Recreation District is going to operate the pool. Programming is set to run weekdays from 5 am-8 pm and weekends on slightly later opening hours. • Their operating pro forma is at 60% cost recovery, but recent interviews with the leadership at the new Snohomish pool indicate cost recovery could be higher (Snohomish was at 96% in 2023) with certain design and operating adjustments. 4. Members wanted to know the cadence for the last two meetings and suggested one more meeting so they can discuss their recommendation. Another meeting was added on Monday, July 8th. 5. The Task Force thought it was a good idea to produce Frequently Asked Questions for the general public, because there are a lot of questions. Mary is going to work on a first draft. 6. Commissioner Brotherton went over the itinerary for the visit to Boise. Everyone who is attending will meet at the Idaho Central Aqua�c Center, 3575 S Findley Avenue, Boise, ID 83705, at 2 pm. on Saturday, July 13th. 7. Commissioner Brotherton adjourned the mee�ng at 8:10 pm.