Includes Facility for Disabled : Swimming Pool Complex in Reseda Gets Go-Ahead

The Los Angeles City Council has given the go-ahead for construction of the first city-owned indoor swimming pools in the San Fernando Valley, a $2.7-million complex at Cleveland High School in Reseda that will include two pools, one for the handicapped.

City officials said Wednesday that construction of the West Valley Indoor Swimming Pool complex will begin late this year and take about 18 months. Plans call for a 160-by-80-foot building containing competition and hydro-therapy pools, spectator seating and showers for students at Cleveland and the adjoining Joaquin Miller High School, which serves handicapped students.

The pools, to be built with state park bond funds approved by the Legislature last month, will be open to the public on evenings and weekends.

“This project is the largest single amount that Los Angeles has received from the state park bond fund at this time,” Councilwoman Joy Picus said.

To Replace Parking Lot

The 1.14-acre complex will be built on what is now a student parking lot at Strathern Street and Vanalden Avenue, near Cleveland’s gym and the old archery range.

Cleveland Administrative Dean John McLaughlin said that construction materials and equipment will cause some inconvenience but that “the school will be able to accommodate student parking” even with the elimination of the lot.

The school now leases the pool at the West Valley YMCA for its swimming team, he said, making the new pool a welcome addition.

“Several years ago, parents and officials from both schools held fund-raising events in an attempt to have a swimming pool built,” he said. “Eventually, the effort died.”

The Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission recommended last August that the city apply for state bond funds for the project.

Jay Alleman, principal at Joaquin Miller, said the rectangular hydro-therapy pool, which is heated to higher temperatures than most pools and has handles and rails along the sides, will be used by handicapped students and community residents for therapy and recreation.

“The complex holds great value to group homes for handicapped in the Valley and organizations like United Cerebral Palsy,” he said.