After a rough start this summer, the Vashon Pool had a strong season, according to Vashon Park District Executive Director Elaine Ott.
The district had budgeted $25,000 to supplement pool revenue, Ott said, and she estimates that operating costs until the end of the year will be close to that, at $25,174.
Compared to 2013, use this summer was up in all categories, with open swim attendance up 25 percent and swimming lessons, swim teams and lap swims up 33 percent.
Seasonal pass sales, however, were down 28 percent, and despite the strength of the season, revenue came in $1,500 lower than last year, Ott said. She attributes both decreases to the shortened season and public uncertainty regarding the pool opening date.
The pool opened June 14 this year, instead of Memorial Day Weekend, because of drainage issues that were not discovered until spring.
Once the pool was open, however, Ott said it was busy most of the time.
“It is clearly well loved, clearly well used,” she said.
The park district, which manages the pool, and the school district, which leases the pool to the park district, were sometimes at loggerheads about how to solve and pay for a fix that would enable the pool to drain.
In previous years, the pool drained to the high school’s septic field, but state laws now prevent that. At the time of high school construction, it was believed that the pool drained elsewhere, and construction proceeded accordingly, making it impossible to drain the pool filters.
Working with engineers and regulatory agencies, the school district provided the park district with three different potential options to drain the pool’s filters. Park commissioners, however, chose to transport the waste water off-island and delay a decision on a more permanent fix.
Ott said plans about how to proceed were put on hold through the summer, but she has recently reached out to school superintendent Michael Soltman and has suggested they and representatives from both boards meet again soon to address the issue.
For this season, the drainage issue at the pool did not cost the park district anything, Ott said, as the district’s insurance company reimbursed it for the costs of supplies and water hauling that resulted. Ott said she estimates that the district will receive about $23,000 from the insurance company for those expenses.
In June, Soltman noted that the school district had spent about $16,000 to identifying potential drainage solutions.
