Sonoma Splash presents plan to Springs Community Alliance
“All children in the Valley will be swimmers by 4th grade.” Sonoma Splash board members Mary Favaro and Madolyn Agrimonti announced this ambitious goal in a presentation on February 11 at the Springs Community Alliance monthly meeting. Agrimonti opened with the statistic that drowning is a leading cause of accidental death among children under 14 in the US. Favaro added that national statistics show that 60% of Hispanic/Latino children do not know how to swim, adding that the percentage may well be higher locally.
Questioned as to how Splash would meet this admirable but ambitious goal, Agrimonti reminded the audience that the Sonoma City Council, of which she is a member, has promised $25,000 a year for ten years to the nonprofit, for “scholarships” for all ages. Possible collaboration with the school district was also mentioned.
The other stat that was a keynote of the presentation is that 114 community pools in California have closed in the last decade. Favaro elaborated, “It’s easy to build a pool but not easy to sustain it.” For this reason, the Sonoma Splash project planned for the 6 acres that the nonprofit has purchased on Verano Avenue will have two pools. According to Favaro, two pools will allow greater accessibility. Splash’s aim is to be “accessible to all Sonoma Valley residents for aquatics, fitness and recreation.” Favaro stated that “there is no facility accessible to all in the Sonoma Valley.”
In response to questions about accessibility for all to the “community pool,” Favaro said that memberships will be available but not required to use the pool. She suggested that the daily non-member use fee might be $5. An audience member later told Favaro and Agrimonti that the Calistoga community pool, which they had mentioned as an example of what Splash proposes, offers free swimming under for age 17 and under.
Sonoma Splash proposes to address the challenge of sustainability through their commercial partners. She acknowledged that a deal with Parkpoint is still in the negotiating stage. If the deal is concluded, Parkpoint would pay a ground lease and be responsible for construction of its own facility. The many questions related to that partnership, including parking and public accessibility, will be addressed at the Town Hall meeting Sonoma Splash will hold on Wednesday, February 24 at 6 pm at FAHA. Favaro stated that Splash hopes to have a site plan and renderings to present at that public meeting.
The other commercial partner that the Splash board plans to work with is a developer who will build one and two bedroom rental units on the property that will “provide an income stream to keep the pool open.” Stating that a portion of those units will be “affordable,” Favaro acknowledged that she did not know what percentage that would be, but it would follow county guidelines.
