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Town may dive in to help pool project
Facility at LG high school could benefit community
By Gloria I. Wang
Los Gatos' first-ever issuance of a $9 million redevelopment bond later this year may help fund the new Los Gatos High School swimming pool.
The Los Gatos Town Council might consider allocating $300,000 of the bond money to the project if it can be shown that the pool will benefit the entire community, beyond the high school population.
The $2.8 million, L-shaped and Olympic-sized pool would replace the existing small, shallow pool, which was built in the 1950s.
Finance was the word of the day at the May 6 town council meeting, but much of the discussion was centered around redevelopment agency (RDA) bonding and the high school.
According to Redevelopment Agency Manager Marty Woodworth, the agency--which funds improvements in and around the downtown Central Business District, totaling 444 acres--has borrowed money from the town in the past 10 years of its existence. But because the agency is now taking on larger projects--projects that tie up the town's reserves--Woodworth said, it must look to other funding sources.
The financing method that the town chose was issuing bonds in the form of Certificates of Participation. The certificates allow for more flexibility and raise more money than other types of bonds, Woodworth said. Also, Woodworth said later, the certificates are tax-exempt because they are issued by the government, and are subject to a lower interest rate. The town will pay the money back over the next 28 years.
Between now and 2012, the redevelopment agency is allowed to issue bonds totaling $20 million. The town is only prepared to undertake $9 million worth of projects in the immediate future, however.
Woodworth said that town staff would return to the council in early July with the necessary documents and a final list of all the projects the agency will fund in the next three years. The preparation process will take three or four months, Woodworth said.
Los Gatos High School's swimming pool project is eligible for redevelopment funding because it falls within the agency's jurisdiction. And, as Town Manager Debra Figone pointed out, other funding sources--such as the town's general fund and park bond moneys--were not the ideal sources for the pool for various reasons.
"I really do think it gets down to two questions: One is community benefit--is there significant enough community benefit where the council would consider spending public funds towards this project? And then the other is the funding source," Figone said. "We do believe that RDA is a viable source of funds."
Figone said that while the existing pool is used consistently by the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation, the town would require some kind of written agreement between the department and the high school, as well as a written agreement between the town and the school.
Los Gatos High School Principal Trudy McCulloch told council members that the old pool is inadequate for the students' activities, citing as impacts the need to use other schools' pools for water sports practices and games.
"The students at Los Gatos High School are never the home team in water sports," McCulloch said.
With a new pool, McCulloch said, "our physical education classes would continue but we would have more water sports. Our boys and girls water polo could actually have games and practice in their own pool and they would be at a decent hour."
The recreation department could expand its program to offer classes on kayaking, water aerobics for seniors, lifeguarding and a water rehabilitation class for people with disabilities, McCulloch said.
McCulloch said that the department uses the pool when students aren't using it "daily, nightly and weekends."
"We feel that we could make it very viable as a community resource as often as possible," McCulloch said.
"I guess my issue really is the 'as often as possible' component. I think we need to work together to determine that the uses that the community would have for the pool would not merely be in those off hours when either the weather doesn't allow the school to provide programs or it's very early in the morning or very late at night," said Councilman Joe Pirzynski. "That's the issue I think we need to address, is how would this interface take place?"
McCulloch replied by saying that the pool would have a movable bulkhead that would allow for simultaneous activities within, but that permitting community uses during the school day is a liability issue that would have to be examined.
Campaign steering committee member Ed LaVeque was also representing the Valley Foundation, which had contributed a total of $500,000 toward the project. LaVeque said that the committee had raised more than half of the $2.8 million to date.
"This is the community aquatic center at Los Gatos High School. That's how it should be recognized," LaVeque said.
Council members agreed that some sort of shared-use agreement with the school and recreation department needed to be put in writing. Councilman Steve Glickman said, however, that the council's recommendation needed to be framed positively.
"I believe that this is something that would be a good thing. I would like to see it occur, so I would encourage staff to work on it with the view in mind of finding ways to make it work rather than just saying, 'Well, tell us about it and we'll think about it,' " Glickman said.
Sandy Decker said that she is supportive of the redevelopment agency money going to the pool. "I think that's exactly where we need to go," Decker said, "whether it's students who can't do what they'd like to do, or members of this community."
Decker was also excited that, since the pool will replace an existing one, it will cost less than it otherwise would.
"We don't have to recreate a facility; we don't have to acquire land," Decker said. "I would hate to see us miss the opportunity."
The council also looked at the town's proposed five-year capital improvements program budget. The $15 million allocated funds developments such as the Town Plaza Park renovation, downtown streetscape improvements and improvements at the intersection of Winchester Boulevard and Daves Avenue.
Council members approved the preliminary budget and will give final approval June 17.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
