NEWPORT BEACH : Council to Vote on School Pool Loan

The City Council tonight is scheduled to vote on whether the city will provide an additional $15,000 for a new swimming pool at Newport Harbor High School that has been slowed by cost overruns and construction delays.

The Aquatic Boosters Club had initially sought a donation from the city but, after resistance from the council, is now seeking instead a $15,000 interest-free loan to finish building the pool. The boosters want up to three years to repay the loan.

“It seems a safe bet that the city will be repaid the loan,” the club said in a recent letter to the council.

Six years in the making, the high school’s Olympic-size pool has been hit with a series of cost overruns and construction delays. Partially paid for by the boosters, the city and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the pool is ultimately expected to cost about $560,000--or $170,000 above the project’s original budget, officials said.

Boosters blame the cost overruns in part on unexpected soil problems and inflation.

In arguing for the additional loan, boosters say that the city originally committed to paying for 32% of the total cost and that the latest loan request will put the city’s share at only 27% of the total. They say the $15,000 is needed for restroom fixtures such as shower heads, toilets and other plumbing accessories.

Council members, however, have been skeptical of the project, and they voiced their concerns bluntly when the group asked for a flat donation at a meeting last month.