Laguna Beach school board OKs conceptual design for $19-million pool

After earlier proposals were refined with community input, the Laguna Beach Unified School District board this month approved on a unanimous vote the conceptual design for a 45-meter pool across the street from Laguna Beach High School. The project carries a $19-million price tag.

“The pool modernization project comes at a critical time due to the aging infrastructure of our current pool,” Assistant Supt. of Business Services Jeff Dixon said in a statement. “It also presents an opportunity to enhance the facility in a way that better serves both our students and the community, offering greater flexibility while aligning with the district’s sustainability goals and priorities.”

The district’s facilities master plan had included an aquatics center that would have brought both a 50-meter pool and a 25-meter pool to Laguna Beach High. Those plans called for the relocation of the tennis courts, but community feedback was steadfastly against the move, a district spokesperson said.

The project was scaled back to replace the existing school and community pool on Park Avenue, taking into consideration that a 50-meter pool at its current location would have limited deck space and impacted accessibility.

“This design’s most impactful eventual result is concurrent usage,” resident Julian Harvey said during the public hearing, calling the 45-meter pool a compromise. “It allows for concurrent usage by the district, as well as by the community. It reduces the number of hours the pool is operational, thereby limiting the impacts to the neighboring residents. The lights, the whistles will be reduced by hours.”

Featuring 17 lap lanes at a width of 8 feet per lane, the pool will be able to accommodate up to 102 swimmers at once. The majority of those lanes will have a depth of 7 feet. The shallow section will encompass 750 square feet with depths ranging from 3½ feet to 4½ feet.

The pool will have underwater lighting. Accessibility features include an ADA-compliant lift and five grab rails with recessed steps.

District Supt. Jason Viloria said the hope would be that once construction begins, it would take around 11 months, impacting each sport for one season. Viloria added that the district has had discussions with other schools — Sage Hill among them — in terms of pool availability to facilitate the continuation of the programs during construction.

Environmental impacts will need to be determined, and, if any, mitigation measures must be taken before the construction bidding process can take place.

Community concerns had also included availability of aquatics programs in town that would allow for kids to get home earlier.

“Board members talk about the education of the whole child, and I think athletics is a crucial part of that,” said Carter McKinzie, a senior goalkeeper on the high school’s boys’ water polo team. “A lot of these students, a lot of these players, athletics is a really big deal for them, and it motivates them to work in class, to be respectful of their teachers, and it kind of holds them accountable.”

McKinzie also revisited the point that Laguna Beach’s home games had to be played elsewhere, adding, “Students don’t want to go through the canyon traffic to support us.”

The Laguna Beach City Council in March decided to pursue the option of constructing a city-owned pool facility that would accommodate a wide range of water-based lessons and activities, rather than sharing space and facilities with Laguna Beach Unified School District.