With pool-sharing costs gone off the deep end, Laguna Beach leaders seek a lane change
After three decades of brokering the joint use of a 25-meter swimming pool at Laguna Beach High School — and subtly balancing the aquatic needs of children, students and adults alike — city leaders are looking to change lanes.
The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday agreed to pursue the option of constructing a city-owned pool facility that would accommodate a wide range of water-based lessons and activities, rather than sharing space and facilities with Laguna Beach Unified School District.
Although a location has yet to be determined, officials estimate a new 25-meter pool with the required parking, staffing and infrastructure would cost at least $13 million and come with an annual $692,000 operating cost.
Such a move would not only give the city more leeway to create and offer public programs, from lessons and recreational swim hours to lifeguard training and possibly SCUBA certification, but could increase the city’s ability to generate more revenue than under the current joint use agreement with LBUSD, authored in 1994.
That arrangement has the city paying 70% of the operating costs and roughly 65% of the cost of instructors, with the rest being picked up by the district. In 2023, the city spent $522,000 to use the Laguna Beach High pool but generated just $158,700 in class and program fee revenue.
Meanwhile, the school district has priority for using the facilities and free rein of the pool from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on school weekdays, meaning city-based youth water polo teams and after-school swim lessons run from 6 to 9 p.m. The two uses cannot be combined.
The discussion over building a city pool comes not without a bit of duress. Laguna Beach Unified officials in December approved designing and building a $19-million, 50-meter pool at the high school campus, which they hope to complete by late 2026.
“They would not negotiate with us on size,” said Mayor Sue Kempf, who sits on a council ad hoc committee convened in October to consider pool options. “They voted on a 50-meter pool and they plan to build a 50-meter pool — they were very clear.”
The Laguna Beach Unified School District board of education held a study session for its updated 10-year facilities master plan. An aquatics center is among the proposed projects.
Construction at LBHS would require closure of the jointly used facilities, and plans for the new pool do not include a kids’ pool or shallow lanes for very young swimmers, vital aspects of the city’s aquatic programming.
Council members Tuesday considered three options — going in with Laguna Beach Unified on the new pool at a cost of $9.5 million to $13 million, knowing it cannot accommodate city programs, building a new community pool somewhere else, or doing both and paying for a standalone and joint-use pool.
Whalen, who serves with Kempf on the ad hoc committee, said the group’s been talking with members of Sensible Laguna, an advocacy group formed in response to a $150-million facilities master plan floated last March by Laguna Unified School District, which they say was drafted without adequate public input.
Supported by 2,000 “concerned parents, coaches, water polo players, tennis and pickleball players, swimmers and many others,” according to its website, the group contends a 35-meter pool would be more appropriate for the high school.
Members are urging the city to build a community pool at one of several locations, including the city’s 3.9-acre Lang Park and the 6.5-acre Laguna Beach Community & Recreation Center, the former site of the St. Catherine of Siena Parish School.
Several residents spoke during Tuesday night’s meeting, with some siding on a new joint-use agreement for LBUSD’s 50-meter pool for the sake of expediency, since a school district does not need to seek city entitlements and permits to build on its own property.
“This item is about seizing an opportunity being presented,” said resident Julian Harvey, a former marine safety lieutenant and member of the U.S. Water Polo team. “The most cost effective alternative is a partnership with the district in the construction and joint use of a 50-meter pool.”
Most speakers, however, supported a city-owned pool, balking at the school district’s offer to make the city pay up to $13 million for a new joint-use facility that it ultimately would not own.
“It’s $13 million give or take either way, but one we will own and one we will not,” said resident Jacquie Schaefgen. “So do we pay $13 million for their pool, or do we pay $13 million for a pool that may meet the needs of all community members?”
Councilman George Weiss said although the city has been a committed partner with the district since 1994, officials were given no say in the plans for a new pool.
“Placing pressure on us to say take it or leave it doesn’t sit well with me,” he said. “If we controlled a pool for 15 hours a day, we could have more programs than we had at the school’s pool and collect more fees for those services.”
Councilman Mark Orgill requested the project be placed into Laguna Beach’s own facilities master plan and moved to the top of the priority list to speed up the long process ahead, estimated to take from three to five years after a location has been identified.
Ahead of a unanimous vote, Whalen said he and Kempf would continue to hold discussion with Sensible Laguna and members of the public on possible locations for the amenity as well as options for interim pool use during any future construction.
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