MISSION VIEJO : Swim Club Wants City to Sponsor Pool

The Nadadores swim club, the training ground of several Olympic champions that has plunged into financial distress, hopes to persuade the City Council on Tuesday to let it stay at the world-class, 50-meter pool that has been its home since the 1970s.

However, council members remain split on whether the city should pay approximately $1 million to renovate the pool and then about $270,000 annually to maintain it.

“Maybe we should do what we can to keep them here,” said Mayor Sharon Cody. “But I don’t know about spending this kind of money when the program benefits a relatively small portion of our community.”

The Mission Viejo Nadadores Foundation, the booster club for the Nadadores swim team, has been scrambling to raise money since its major sponsor, the Mission Viejo Co., gave notice that it would be severing its ties with the club after the Barcelona Olympics.

For years, the Mission Viejo Co. owned and operated four recreation centers, including the swim complex where the Nadadores trained. Last year, the company swapped the centers to the city for an office building.

The boosters have estimated that it takes about $730,000 annually to operate the Nadadores club, including the $270,000 for pool maintenance.

Swim club representatives said they can come up with $460,000 each year to pay for programs and coaches. In meetings with city staff, they’ve asked the city to maintain the pool.

“We’re not looking for a subsidy at all,” said Alexander Dean, foundation president. “We’re looking to maintain a quality program that benefits a lot of children in the area.” Dean said that the Nadadores’ name recognition also benefits the city. The swim team has produced several Olympic gold medal winners, including Brian Goodell and Tiffany Cohen. “Mission Viejo is known throughout the world, mainly because of the Nadadores’ outstanding swim programs,” he said.

What the foundation is asking the city to do is little more than what it already does in maintaining fields for youth sports groups such as Little League and the American Youth Soccer Organization, Dean said.

One of the biggest obstacles for the city is the $1-million renovation tab needed for pool repairs and to bring the facility up to standards required by the federal American Disabilities Act, which requires public facilities to be accessible to disabled people.

Cody suggested that the city look into selling the swim complex to the Nadadores at a nominal cost.

“As a private organization, they might not be required to renovate the pool to ADA standards,” she said. “It might be a way for them to stay.”

The swim complex isn’t suited to a majority of Mission Viejo residents anyway, because “it’s really set up to train athletes,” Cody said. “We have other pools that are better suited for recreational swimming.”