(Photo by Vlad Oustimovitch, who explains that ‘butterfly stroke practice’ was happening there today)
ORIGINAL TUESDAY REPORT: West Seattle is home to the city’s only beachfront public saltwater swimming pool, Colman Pool on the Lincoln Park shore. Seattle Parks has announced that renovation work is planned, and it’s hosting an info session at the pool this Sunday:
Seattle Parks and Recreation invites the community to Colman Pool on Sunday, July 17 from noon to 2 p.m. to learn about and provide input on an upcoming maintenance and improvement project at the pool. Colman Pool is in Lincoln Park at 8603 Fauntleroy Way SW in West Seattle.
Colman Pool, originally constructed in 1941, is one of only two public outdoor pools in Seattle and the only public salt-water pool in King County. Its scenic location on the beach of Lincoln Park offers a unique experience that boasts 50-meter swim lanes and occasional orca sightings. The pool is regularly used for practice by swim teams as well as by recreational lap swimmers.
The current locker rooms remain largely unchanged since their original construction and numerous accessibility barriers have been documented, which prevent potential users of all abilities from easily accessing the pool. Many of the cast-iron pipes and components of the sand filter system that draws water from Puget Sound for swimming are also original, and the main bathhouse building is unreinforced masonry (URM).
The goal of the upcoming maintenance project is to renovate the locker rooms to increase access for people of all abilities, provide family and non-gender-specific restrooms and changing areas (none currently exist), improve the caretaker residence, and provide several other improvements throughout the bathhouse and on the pool deck that will increase access to all users. This project will also provide general much-needed updates to the unique operation-critical filter equipment essential for drawing and filtering water from Puget Sound, and reinforcement to the walls to ensure that building occupants can safely withstand an earthquake. These improvements will allow Colman Pool to continue to serve new generations of users into the future.
We have followup questions out about when this work would start, how long it would take, and what’s budgeted for it; we’ll add answers when we get them. It’s been a decade since the pool’s last major renovations.
ADDED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Parks spokesperson Karen O’Connor answered our followup questions:
If the proposals for the new Park District are approved, we plan to have Park District funding of $3 million or more for this project to begin planning and design in 2023. We have been awarded a grant from King County for an additional $1.8 million and are working to secure additional funding through Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office grant. Projects that show community involvement are rated higher from the RCO office and generally give projects a better chance of receiving funding. This is primarily a major maintenance project. The scope will include accessibility improvements, renovation of the locker rooms and restrooms, reinforcement of the unreinforced masonry, renovation of the caretaker’s quarters, and replacement and update of some of the mechanical equipment. Additional funding through grants and other sources would allow us to accomplish more. Our goal would be to do the work in the off season and be open for the summer. We anticipate work occurring in 2024 or 2025.
A public hearing on the Park District spending plan is set for tomorrow night – we have a separate story coming up on that later this afternoon.
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