Nadadores, Mission Viejo OK Pool Lease Pact : Contract: The swim team will pay $14,400 a year. An escape clause will allow the city to dissolve the lease in 3 years and again in 6.

Nearly two years of tense negotiations have ended with the City Council and the Mission Viejo Nadadores agreeing to a long-term lease of a city-owned pool complex used by the internationally known swim team for the past 20 years.

“We feel good about it,” Bill Rose, the team’s head coach, said Tuesday. “We’ve had meeting after meeting for two years. Now I’ll have so much time to actually coach, instead of politic.”

The team, which has produced more than 40 Olympic medals, had been uncertain of its future in Mission Viejo since December, 1992--the month that the city took over the swim complex and three other recreation centers from the team’s former sponsor, the Mission Viejo Co.

A critical point in negotiations was reached in April, when the council backed down from its previous demands for the private swim club to pay about $260,000 for upkeep of the swim complex.

Smaller points, such as a grievance procedure for lap swimmers who will be sharing an Olympic-size pool with the Nadadores, were ironed out Monday, when the agreement was finally approved.

“This agreement has been a long time coming,” said Brian Murphy, a spokesman for the Mission Viejo Nadadores Foundation. “By making this investment, the community will continue to receive the positive image and peaceful lifestyle” promoted by the swim club.

In contrast to previous months, when the Nadadores’ demands for the city to pick up pool maintenance costs privately irked some council members, the council was all smiles Monday.

“Does this mean the Nadadores won’t have to read (headlines like) ‘Nadadores--Sink or Swim?’ any more?” joked Councilman Joseph D. Lowe.

Under the new lease agreement, the Nadadores will continue to pay $14,400 annual rent on the facility.

Recognizing that further downturns in the state economy might make the pool complex too expensive to maintain, the council also approved an escape clause that makes it possible to dissolve the lease in three years and again in six years.

Other than the grievance procedure, which leaves disputes in the hands of City Manager Fred Sorsabal, the council had little comment on the particulars of the lease.

Previously, council members have said there has been little interest from the business community in leasing the swim complex--unlike the other recreation centers, which have attracted offers from a variety of nonprofit organizations and private firms.

Rose said settling the problem over the pool will help assure the team’s financial stability. “Financially, many corporate sponsors really weren’t going to deal with us until they knew we’re going to have longevity,” Rose said.