Swim enthusiasts want to bring community pool back to Sonoma

<p>Advocates of a community pool in Sonoma are hoping to make a splash this week with a proposal to build a facility near the city center that would include a climbing wall, dance studio and other recreational offerings.</p><p>The Sonoma Aquatic Center is envisioned on a 1.9-acre parcel at the corner of Broadway and East MacArthur Street. The property, which currently is the site of Sonoma Truck and Auto, is on the market for $2.35 million.</p><p>Pool advocates estimate it would cost an additional $5.75 million to build the center, which in addition to a nine-lane swimming pool would include an 80-foot-long climbing wall that meets international standards, said Sam Coturri, a spokesman for the community group behind the effort.</p><p>Citizens United for a Sonoma Pool, or CUSP, will unveil the plans at a community forum Tuesday in Sonoma. Whether the group succeeds in bringing a pool to the city of 10,000 after years of frustrating false-starts could depend on the public's reception to the plans, as well as organizers' ability to raise the millions required for the project.</p><p>“No checks have been signed,” Coturri said Friday.</p><p>He said pool advocates contacted the real estate agent who is handling the Broadway property to express their interest in purchasing the site.</p><p>The parcel is zoned for mixed use and would allow for a health and fitness center, although it would require a use permit, said Sonoma Planning Director David Goodison. The plans call for on-site parking for 70 vehicles.</p><p>Sonoma has been without a community pool since at least 2005. That's when a pool at Sonoma Valley High School that had limited public access was filled in.</p><p>The only other option for valley residents currently is the membership-only Sonoma Aquatic Club in Agua Caliente, which is outside Sonoma city limits.</p><p>The Sonoma City Council set a deadline of March for members of CUSP to present their plan.</p><p>Over the years people have discussed the possibility of rebuilding the pool at Sonoma Valley High or elsewhere on campus. The school district set aside about $1.5 million for that purpose.</p><p>But Coturri called that option “less and less likely” because of the demise of the city's redevelopment agency and the loss of those funds.</p><p>However, the estimated $8 million price tag for a facility on the Broadway property would eclipse the most expensive estimates outlined in previous proposals for a community pool.</p><p>That includes a 2006 study by the CommonBond Foundation that estimated the cost to build a community pool at Sonoma Valley High to be as high as $6 million, a proposal district officials dismissed as exorbitant.</p><p>That plan also included a smaller water play area for children, which is not a part of the plans being floated now by CUSP.</p><p>Instead, the group is highlighting its plans for a climbing wall, which Coturri said would be donated by Andrew McDermott, a local investor and head of Mission Value Partners. Coturri said McDermott also funded the climbing wall at Presentation School.</p><p>“We definitely want to have a multi-faceted project,” Coturri said.</p><p>Tuesday's public forum is from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Ramekins Culinary School and Events Center, 450 W. Spain St. in Sonoma. </p><p>]You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.</p>