Aquatics center plans still on drawing board

City of Kent officials continue to explore proposals for a new, full-scale aquatics and recreation center for Kent, as well as a scaled-back facility.

They’re also continuing to talk with officials from the YMCA of Greater Seattle, about partnering up on the project. YMCA oversees 13 facilities in the metropolitan Seattle area.

“We’ve had several conversations with the YMCA and have follow-up meetings scheduled with them,” said Jeff Watling, city parks director, in a Friday phone interview.

YMCA officials confirmed the ongoing dialogue.

“We’re still talking to the city about a possible partnership,” said Linnea Westerlind, communications director for the YMCA of Greater Seattle, in a phone interview Friday. “Partnerships take time and we’re figuring out if it makes sense for the city and the YMCA. We don’t have anything more specific than that.”

At an April 15 City Council workshop, staffers outlined options on the proposed aquatics center. And last November, the Council asked staff to look at potential partners as well as ways to reduce the capital costs of the facility. The goal would be to replace the city’s circa-1972 Kent Meridian pool on the East Hill.

The original proposal for a new aquatics center, which city staffers provided to the Council last fall, calls for an 80,000-square foot facility to be built west of downtown on a 14-acre site south of West Meeker Street and east of Naden Avenue. Estimated at $48 million, the facility would have a 25-meter competitive lap pool, a leisure pool, a therapy pool, a gym with an elevated track, a small fitness room and party rooms.

That option remains on the table, but at the Council’s April 15 workshop, staff unveiled another proposal calling for phased construction at a reduced cost of $20 million. The initial phase would include the indoor competitive pool, an indoor therapy pool and an outdoor recreation pool with slides. The smaller facility would drop a proposed gym, elevated track and fitness room.

The Council is expected to vote in May on whether to put a bond measure for the aquatics center out for public vote in August, and how much they should ask for in tax dollars to do it.

Representatives from a grass-roots supporters group called Citizens for Kent Recreation and Aquatics Future have recommended the Council go with the phased approach. The group formed earlier this year in an effort to convince the Council to put a property tax measure before voters to help pay for the new facility,

“It (the phased approach) keeps the door open to partner with the YMCA,” said Mark Prothero, a Kent attorney and chairman of the group, in a phone interview Thursday. “The YMCA time frame is further down the road and we need something sooner rather than later.”

Despite a population of 86,000, Kent is one of the few Seattle-area cities without a YMCA. Auburn, Issaquah and Bellevue are among the cities with YMCAs that feature pools and gymnasiums. The YMCA broke ground last summer on a 52,000-square-foot facility in Shoreline, north of Seattle.

“The Council seemed to agree that we have to do something,” Prothero said of the workshop. “We can’t allow the Kent Meridian pool to die and be stuck with nothing. Now we have to figure out the best way to go about it and to use taxpayers’ money wisely.”

Prothero hopes to help convince voters this summer of the importance of a city pool.

“I hope people look at it as an investment in the quality of life and in the community,” Prothero said.

For more information about the Citizens for Kent Recreation and Aquatics Future, go to wwww.itsmorethanapool.org.

Contact Steve Hunter at 253-872-6600, ext. 5052 or shunter@reporternewspapers.com.