MISSION VIEJO : Agreement Near on Pool Complex Use

A few small but potentially troublesome details involving the city’s lease with the Nadadores swim club for use of a municipal swim stadium may be ironed out by the City Council today.

Councilwoman Sharon Cody and several other city representatives have met with Nadadores officials to discuss gate security, public use of the pool complex and who gets revenue from renting the stadium to third parties.

Cody said the meeting was productive, adding that Nadadores officials “really seemed to want to work with us.”

Among the issues resolved were:

* The city and the Nadadores have worked out a system to keep a gate closed to satisfy an insurer writing a $5-million policy for the team’s divers, Cody said. The insurer was concerned about gate security.

* The city and the Nadadores agreed to split revenues from visiting swim teams that use the swim stadium. The exact percentage of the split has not yet been determined.

* Public use of the pool complex in the winter was broadened. Nadadores officials conceded that portions of the complex weren’t used during practice, Cody said.

The internationally known swim team has been scrambling to keep up a world-class program since September, 1991, when its major sponsor, the Mission Viejo Co., decided to end its financial support.

The development firm gave the city several recreation complexes that included the swim stadium in exchange for an office complex.

In May, the council voted to pay about $350,000 to maintain the city-owned swim complex for one year, instead of requiring the Nadadores to pay the fee. The agreement will be reviewed next year.

“We’re still in a period of transition from when things were run by the Mission Viejo Co.,” said Louise Murphy, president of the Nadadores Foundation, the team’s fund-raising group. “But there’s a commitment from everyone to work things out.”