From Salinas Californian, June 3, 2008: By fall 2009 at the latest, Salinas will have a splashy new community resource.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Salinas Aquatic Center was held Monday at Sherwood Park, site of the new, 17,000-square-foot facility that is slated to open as soon as next summer -

possibly not until early fall.

"This pool is representative of a lot good things happening in Salinas," said Mayor Dennis Donohue.

For nearly 10 years, city officials and swimming aficionados have hoped to replace the 1949 municipal pool with a more modern facility.

Jim Pia, Salinas recreation and park superintendent, said the existing pool will stay open during construction, closing only after the new facility opens. The city will then draw up plans to remodel the old pool building into an indoor recreation center and gymnasium.

"We need indoor recreation space in this community," Pia said.

City budget constraints and rising cost estimates have plagued the effort to get the new $9.8 million aquatic center designed, paid for and built. City officials originally planned to build a two-pool facility, but money problems forced them to scale back to one pool in a smaller facility. The new building will be energy-efficient and LEEDS certified - meaning the city will use "green" building materials and procedures to the greatest extent possible.

The cost has been shared between government and the community through a combination of state and federal money, foundation grants and private donations.

Part of the funding came from the Packard Foundation, which gave $1.4 million, and more than $2 million more came from state and federal grants.

At Monday's ceremony, Salinas Community Pool Foundation President David Sandys handed Donohue and Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, a check for $2 million, gathered over seven years from community donations.

Caballero said the new pool was a major project under her tenure as mayor and will give youths a good place to have fun and exercise.

"There is nothing better than seeing little kids learning to swim for the first time," Caballero said.

Salinas resident Hank Leong, who was waiting outside the old pool facility to buy a yearly membership, said the existing pool is too small to accommodate all the swimmers who use it every week.

"We do need a pool," Leong said. "We have seniors who come here with many other people."

By DAWN WITHERS • The Salinas Californian • June 3, 2008
http://thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080603/NEWS01/806...