3-Pool Swim Center Proposed at Buena High

Buena High School would be the site of a sprawling swimming complex for both students and the public under a proposal being hammered out by the city and Ventura Unified School District.

Although the plan must still go before the Ventura City Council and the Ventura school board and faces competing proposals for a municipal pool, many major stumbling blocks have been cleared, said Jim McConica, a Ventura businessman who helped broker the deal.

If approved, the swimming center would offer three pools to students and the public: an existing shallow lap pool, an Olympic-sized competition pool and a deep pool designed for platform diving, McConica said.

“We would have a facility that would be superior to the 1984 Olympic pool facilities in Los Angeles,” he said.

Ventura City Manager Donna Landeros confirmed that city officials have been meeting regularly over the past four months to talk about the plan with school district officials and members of the community who are anxious to see a public pool built.

“These folks are very credible,” Landeros said. “And they are working very hard.”

Joe Richards, assistant superintendent of business for the Ventura school district, said he believes the proposal has a good chance of succeeding.

“I believe Buena is one of the sites that nearly everyone can agree on,” he said.

The land for the 40,000-square-foot center is available, parking already exists and school district officials seem cooperative thus far, McConica said.

He and other advocates of the facility say they are prepared to present their plan to the school board within the next month. If school trustees agree on the plan in concept, the group will next approach the City Council and urge both public entities to begin writing a joint-use agreement, McConica said.

But a Buena swim center still faces many obstacles, Richards and Landeros said, such as deciding who will pay the estimated $250,000 annual operating costs of such a facility. Although the city has had about $4 million set aside for a community pool for at least eight years, municipal officials in the past have balked at paying all the upkeep, Landeros said.

An earlier proposal to build a municipal pool at Ventura College fell apart over that issue, she said, adding that it’s time for some type of agreement.

“We can’t put off the decision for another 10 years,” she said. “We need to bite the bullet and manage it. I sense a great amount of frustration from the community that we have been unable to do this.”

McConica, a 44-year-old world-class swimmer, said it was his frustration over the city’s lack of action that prompted him to create a community-based committee four months ago to discuss possible sites.

Included in the grass-roots effort were architect Bob Blossom, diving coach Dean Nelson, Mayor Tom Buford, Landeros, Richards and other swimming advocates, McConica said.

They settled on Buena High because it appears to be the most viable site, McConica said. They rejected a community pool at the proposed Centerplex sports center in Montalvo after the City Council refused to give that project monetary support, he said.

And the possibility of a pool at a new regional park in east Ventura appears bogged down by a local initiative aimed at preserving the city’s farmland, McConica said.

“The aquatics community just wants a pool in the ground,” he said. “And Buena looks like our best bet.”

The aquatics center could offer a variety of water sports, from platform diving and synchronized swimming to water polo, therapeutic swimming and swimming competitions, McConica said. And it could be a powerful tourism draw for the city as families fill up local hotels and restaurants to take part in regional swimming meets, he said.

“I am excited personally,” McConica said. “This would be a tremendous asset for the city of Ventura.”

The center’s entrance would be on Wake Forest Avenue on the south end of the campus near the sand volleyball courts, McConica said. It would house an existing L-shaped lap pool that is 25 yards by 25 meters, a 50-meter by 25-yard competition pool and a 25-meter by 25-yard deep diving pool, he said.

A Buena facility would also include locker rooms, restrooms and an entry area, he said. Patrons could park on existing nearby lots, he said.

Currently, the only other 50-meter pool available to the public is at Ventura College, open just 2 1/2 hours a week, McConica said. Limited swimming and diving lessons are also available at pools at Ventura and Buena high schools, he said.

“Everyone agrees there is a severe shortage of aquatics facilities in the greater Ventura area,” McConica said. “The money is there and the land is there. It is just a matter of jumping over all the little hurdles.”