A yearslong discussion to bring a pool to Battle Ground is back as the YMCA asked the city council to support a $13 million facility in town.
During its July 18 meeting, the Battle Ground City Council voted 6-1 to allow city manager Erin Erdman to work with Westby Associates and the YMCA of Columbia-Willamette on potential development fee waivers and deferrals for construction of a pool facility. If built, the 18,000-square-foot facility would be on Rasmussen Boulevard, west of the current dead end of the road and east of state Route 503.
YMCA of Columbia-Willamette closed on the roughly 7.8-acre property in May for about $2.6 million. Although talk of a pool has existed in the city for years, the YMCA began its work in earnest with a task force of community members formed in 2013, Eddie White, executive director for the Clark County-based region of the YMCA of Columbia-Willamette, said in a presentation to the council.
A favorable market study and a feasibility study on fundraising for the project followed in 2017 and 2018, respectively, White said. Though initially seen as a building that would either include a fitness facility or start with a fitness center and later include a pool, White said the arrival of current YMCA of Columbia-Willamette CEO Tyler Wright in 2019 changed the approach. Wright had prior experience establishing facilities that began as just pools with the potential to expand, White said.
The aquatic center would offer a variety of programs like swim lessons and water safety courses.
“Not everybody wants to be the next Michael Phelps, but we want to make sure kids are safe when they do get around water,” White said.
Water exercise and support of local swim teams are other potential benefits of the facility. The Battle Ground and Prairie swim teams currently use the YMCA pool at the existing Clark County Family YMCA facility in Orchards, White said.
The $13 million project would require public funding from city, county, state and federal requests, which currently make up nearly half of the cost with $6 million included in the current project plan. The YMCA already paid for the land and plans to sell some of it off as the project is only expected to use five acres, White said. Other funding would come from in-kind construction from local trades, other private foundations and a $150,000 commitment from the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, he added.
Public support needed
At the meeting, project backers asked specifically about the possibility of waiving or deferring development fees for planning, building and engineering, as well as a “commitment to support construction funding.”
White said the city’s commitment would reflect well on the support the project receives as they go after public funding at county, state and federal levels. Constructed in 2000 and expanded in 2014, the existing Orchards facility had the Vancouver Housing Authority and state as public partners, he said.
Deferrals on development fees could add up to around $700,000 based on prior research into the facility, Erdman said at the meeting. Some of that total could not be outright waived.
Councilor Shane Bowman said he isn’t against fee deferrals for the project. He brought up the potential for additional funding from the city and whether it would be palatable to the citizens.
“That’s what I would ask council. If we were to put this out to a vote today, would people pass this?” Bowman said.
Though the annexation into Clark County Fire District 3, which increased taxes, passed by more than 80% in the city in 2020, Bowman said a prior vote on a parks and recreation bond “failed miserably.” He said that vote failed because it was exclusively for little league baseball fields. Any vote with money on the line would leave a portion of the community upset because they won’t use a pool.
Mike Westby, the CEO of the development consulting firm Westby Associates, said the desire for a pool among citizens became evident in Battle Ground’s recent visioning process.
“There’s more headwind here … than I’ve ever seen,” Westby said.
Westby said the largest cost for similar pool projects is maintenance, not construction. The YMCA would take care of those ongoing costs “in an outstanding way,” he said.
“It’s going to take leadership to bring a pool (into Battle Ground),” Westby said. “If not this, I don’t know what your other opportunity is.”
Project backers have not yet made the request to the county for funding but previous discussions showed “encouraging support,” Westby said. He noted they would meet with county and state officials in the days following the city council meeting.
“They want to see where the city is,” Westby said.
Bowman was leery of the amount of support the county would provide given their own financial issues.
“When they’re telling us that they can’t fund public safety and they didn’t take our example there … I’m not too excited to think that they would follow our lead by giving you guys money to build a pool,” Bowman said.
Westby said matching commitments could be included in the project agreement.
“Somebody’s got to jump in the pool and we’re offering you an invitation,” Westby said.
Other benefits
Deputy Mayor Cherish DesRochers addressed the impact that a facility of this kind would have on the rest of the city’s economy.
“One of the things that really gets my attention is how many people will be coming into the city to take their kids to lessons that are going to stop and have dinner or go shopping,” DesRochers said.
Councilor Adrian Cortes agreed with DesRochers, adding he would like to see what construction sales tax would come from the project.
“I’m assuming an 18,000-square-foot project, the sales tax is going to be considerable,” Cortes said.
Mayor Philip Johnson said he couldn’t bring himself to support what was proposed. While surveys indicate a desire for a pool in the community, it didn’t seem to be a day-to-day concern of Battle Ground citizens.
“If the people wanted to pay for it, then we’d hear more about it,” Johnson said. “Is there a clamor from the people I talk to in the neighborhoods I walk? No, I don’t think so.”
