How many people use the Mountain View pool and who are they? With numbers like $53 million being batted around — the projected cost of building a brand new aquatic center — more than anecdotal information is called for. To answer those questions we now have 18 months of post-pandemic data from the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, which manages the pool under contract with the City of Port Townsend, provided by the 2022 annual report and a just-completed report for the first 6 months of 2023.
In 2022, according to the annual report from the Y, Mountain View pool saw an average of 212 individual users each month. That number is calculated by adding together all individual users reported for each month of the year and dividing by 12.
Quite a few of these individuals use the pool a lot. For instance, in January 2022, 182 individuals were responsible for 1,287 total visits to the pool, or an average of just over seven visits per individual. Some of those 182 people may have used the pool only once. The Y reported 85 “drop-in” uses for January 2022. It is thus possible that fewer than 100 people (182 minus the number of drop-in visits) generated over 1,200 visits.
The Y tracked visitors by age and geographic area: 53% of users were older than 55; the largest single category of users was those over age 65 (40%). Less than a quarter of the users were under age 17.
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of users live relatively close to the pool, within Port Townsend city limits. 82% of users in 2022 lived in Port Townsend; 16% in Jefferson County outside the city; and 2% traveled from Port Angeles to use the Mountain View pool. Applying these percentages to the average monthly usage, we can see that only 174 Port Townsend residents used the pool each month. Only 34 county residents outside city limits used the pool.
The data shows considerable use of Sequim and Port Angeles Y pools by people who also use the Mountain View pool. Those other cities reported 399 visits over the year from Mountain View swimmers.
The Y reported a total of 696 individual visits to the Mountain View pool in all of 2022. Clearly, some of those were one-time-only visits, as the monthly average of individuals using the pool is less than a third of that number. Mountain View saw a total of 15,815 visits for all of 2022. By comparison, the Fidalgo Pool in Anacortes, which is almost as old as the Mountain View pool, nearly matches Mountain View’s entire annual usage in just over two months. Anacortes has a population of just under 18,000; Port Townsend has just under 11,000.
The 212 average monthly users of the pool represent about 0.6% of the 33,000 people who live in Jefferson County. The 174 average monthly users who live in Port Townsend represent less than 2% of the city’s population. The 696 individuals who visited the pool at least once over the course of 12 months in 2022 represent 2.1% of Jefferson County’s population. The 571 individuals who live in Port Townsend who used the pool at least once over the course of 2022 represent a little more than 5% of the city’s population.
The graphs show that usage rose in the first half of the year, peaking in July. October usage was only 51% of July’s usage. December 2022 usage was 58% of July’s usage.
2023 Visits Up Somewhat
The Y provided a semi-annual report to the city on July 31, 2023, covering the first six months. It was not as detailed as the 2022 annual report. Significantly, it did not break out individual users by age and geographical area. The monthly average for individual users for the first six months of 2023 was 280. The monthly average for the first 6 months of 2022 was 220.
This number cannot be extrapolated for all of the 2023. Usage in 2022 dropped off significantly after July. This pattern may repeat in 2023. Data shows that usage peaked earlier, in April 2023 versus July 2022.
The total number of visits, on the other hand, remain fairly steady regardless of monthly differences in the number of individual users, suggesting that as in 2022 a smaller group of users account for most of the pool’s usage. But even their level of usage dropped as the year wore on.
A City Pool, Not Truly a Regional Pool
The steering committee behind the push to build a new aquatic center talks about Mountain View as a “regional pool.” A geographical area that includes all of Marrowstone Island, Cape George, Kala Point, Irondale, Port Hadlock and Chimacum, as well as areas to the south, is described as the pool’s “primary service area.”
The consultant from OPSIS Architecture of Portland, Oregon, who is working for the steering committee and who has led the town hall discussions and presentations to City Council and the Board of County Commissioners, has used the phrase “capture areas” to describe these areas of the county. He has done so in the context of reaching beyond city limits in order to find more money for the pool’s construction and operation. He and City Manager John Mauro have made it clear that taxing those “capture areas” is necessary to raise the tens of millions of dollars the city needs to build a new aquatic center.
But the Y’s report clearly shows that Mountain View is a city pool, not a regional pool. Only 25 monthly pool users live in the “capture areas,” according to the percentages shown in the 2022 pie chart pictured above. I asked Wendy Bart, CEO of Olympic Peninsula YMCA, if the same percentages of city versus county users has held into 2023. She has not responded.
Carrie Hite, the city’s contract worker who carries the title of “Director of Parks and Recreation Strategy,” and who is charged with driving the city’s quest for a new aquatic center as well as a reworking of the golf course, has expressed disappointment at how very few people attended the aquatic center town hall in the Chimacum High School Auditorium on April 27, 2023. That may be due to the fact that virtually no one in the “capture areas” uses the pool. It is considered the city’s pool — not Chimacum residents’ issue and none of their business.
Chimacum High School groups, according to the Y’s two pool reports discussed here, have not been using the pool, though classes from Salish Coast and Blue Heron in Port Townsend do. And until recently, when “No P.T. Pool Tax” signs started appearing along streets and roads, few in the “capture areas” had any idea that city leaders were eyeing their homes, farms and businesses, as well as their purchases at stores, for significant tax increases to fund the city’s dreams of a brand new, enormously expensive aquatic center.
The steering committee is led principally by city of Port Townsend employees but includes representatives from the PT school district, the port, the Y and county government. It is considering two taxing options:
- One would be creation of a “regional recreational district” that could lead to a property tax hike of up to $0.75/$1,0000 of assessed value. This tax would be imposed on the “primary service area” shown within the red-shaded area on an image displayed at the last town hall and reproduced below.
- The other option being floated by the steering committee is a county-wide sales tax increase.
Both options require public votes. The consultants and steering committee will present their final recommendation to the Port Townsend City Council on September 5, 2023.
Service Areas to create a “regional recreational district” for new taxation to fund the proposed aquatic center, as displayed at the last town hall. Red (Primary) delineates Port Townsend and county “capture areas” — Marrowstone Island, Cape George, Kala Point, Irondale, Port Hadlock and Chimacum. The blue line (Secondary) delineates boundaries for a potential county-wide sales tax increase.
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our "About" page for more information.
Thank you Jim, for all of your hard work and research in putting together this well-written, informative article on exactly why Port Townsend doesn’t need an aquatic center and the unreasonable and burdensome raise in property and other taxes that would be needed in order to build and sustain a pool that the majority of the population will not use. It’s time to reign in the city leaders and get them to allocate funds for projects that benefit the community as a whole, i.e. filling potholes for starters.
Every time I consider using the pool (it’s been a few years) I recall the bioscience-denying flags and strange people annoying normal adults and cozying up to young children, and I think “who needs this?”
Just fix our bombed-out roads that coincidentally the tourists, and potential clients of all the realtors on or connected to the city council, never see. Why are some city streets still dirt and gravel?
When do the normal, productive, taxpaying citizens organize and rise up against the insanity?
Absolutely Jim I totally agree 100%, I was born in Port Townsend 47 years ago and in the last 15 years things have went south and fast….
Jim and David-
I just had a visit again from the ghost of George Carlin. He says…..
The folks responsible for manipulating Port Townsend into what it has become, including the latest player Mauro, truly love Port Townsend. They truly do.
Just as maggots and slugs love apples. With the same long term planning abilities and foresight. And slimy ick factor.
The ghost of common sense, gone from PT for years says exhibit A, B, C, and D are Fort Worden, Cherry Street, road maintenance, and planned development downtown like a 50-unit hotel with 11 parking spaces on top of 10 years of no plan or enforcement. Some maggots must be benefitting. Brilliant.
Exhibit E and F in the works are the pool and golf course. MMMMMM tasty apples!!!! We love apples, we mean Port Townsend! Join the team, quit thinking so much, and just BE KIND.
Perhaps non maggoty folk would look at Jim’s pie charts, plan accordingly, and find other apples to love. Perhaps Mauro and others should re locate to the big apple and try their tactics there. That would be really fun to watch.
Don’t try this at home, but I wonder if historically PT ever ran anyone out of town on a rail.
Our population does not need to spend millions of dollars to benefit a small group of people.. We need to spend our $ to improve streets so that 100% of us are well served.
Another gallon of pool information: Regional YMCAs pay 12% of their income to the national not-for-profit Young Mens Christian Association. The P.T. aquatic center idea has morphed in reference from a “super Y” to the generic “Healthier Together Aquatic Center” but the plan seems to be quite similar; offices for the Olympic YMCA, party rooms, immense paved parking lots, etc.
The City needs taxes to pay for this plan. The YMCA has loaned money to other large metropolitan governments for similar projects; places with very large urban populations. Carrie Hite has assured Council that she can get grant monies from the State Recreation and Conservation funds.
Voters may find a ballot measure for a Metropolitan Parks District, which operates under a commission as a junior taxing authority, both the city and county placing assets under its control.
Still most people who are aware of this aquatic center idea are hard pressed to understand how such a grand plan has taken root. We have been told such a center might have 10 or so employees and cost the City a million dollars a year for maintenance and operations, not counting debt payments — somewhere between $30 to $50 M.
There is a lot of delayed maintenance at the Mt. View pool. Let’s talk about what is possible.
Julie Jaman, the Young Man’s Christian Association has morphed into something much different than it’s creators envisioned. It is a hot bed of woke platitudes as you personally know, it is very supportive of transgender fantasies, it discriminates against women in particular and non-trans people in general. Why should JeffCo tax dollars be spent on something which serves the needs of Port Townsend 98% Port Townsend to 2% the rest of the county? Why should our tax dollars support transgenderism?
Our tax dollars shouldn’t support that tantasy. Figure out how to change your DNA and chromosomes and maybe we can talk about “changing gender”. Until then, just substitute “fake” for “trans” and all the words suddenly become clear.
For the last 3 years, the MV Pool has had shorter hours, no Aqua Fitness classes, and a very erratic schedule. For these reasons, I believe your data do not, in fact, represent an accurate user profile of a new aquatic center. I firmly believe that new swimming facilities with reliable hours, schedules, and classes would be used by many more residents. I also believe strongly that public swimming pools are an invaluable asset to any community for both recreation but also the opportunity for people of all ages to learn to swim and to continue to swim and/or do exercises in the water.
I’d also like to address the “capture area” outside of PT/Chimacum/Port Hadlock. I live in Dabob. It takes me 30 minutes to drive to PT. For people further down Coyle Peninsula, Quilcene, Brinnon it can take up to 40 to 45 minutes. That is a big time commitment that most of us can’t do on a daily basis. And the erratic schedule and limited open hours don’t help. That’s why I’ve always hoped there would be a way to develop an aquatic center in Chimacum/Port Hadlock. That has never seemed to be an option. Nonetheless, I support a new aquatic center.
Dale, what is the maximum you would commit to paying each year, indefinitely, for a new aquatic center in Port Townsend?
Jim and Dale, although my business has been in Port Townsend for 27 years subject to the deaf corruption here, I live in the forest hillside between Hadlock and Chimacum. I am willing to be forced to pay zero for Mauro’s grand plan and tribute to his ego.
I wonder how Mauro, who claims to be so “green” justifies the excessive materials and paved parking lot necessary for his out of nowhere scheme. Makes as much “green” sense as cutting down all the poplars so concrete sidewalks and abutments could be installed.
I wonder how Mauro justifies the necessary long drives in cars from his tax “captured” distant area to use his dream pool and attached fluff.
I wonder why the city council does not leash their pet employee.
Actually, I don’t wonder about council not leashing Mauro. It gets back to the corrupted culture and human appearing maggots loving the apple that is Port Townsend to death for their own agendas. Rotten to the core.
One person who contacted me visualized Mauro and Faber sitting over a beer hatching plans for the golf course and pool like Gollum saw the ring in Lord of the Ring. “My precious” or “our precious”. Sadly, not limited to just the pool and course. Why not claim an entire town and re-make it in your image?
As always, relevant to the PT power core the Moody Blues set it down over 5 decades ago.
“Some try to tell me
Thoughts they cannot defend
Just what you want to be
You will be in the end”
God bless the child that has his own.