The addition of $550,000 to the contract only added to his criticism.
“While I think it’s a great project, a deserving project?.?.?.?it is not the right time,” he said.
Weaver also questioned how the city planned to come up with the estimated $375,000 to $550,000 required to operate the pool each year.
But his colleagues were undeterred in moving the pool — which has been the subject of political wrangling over its scope and costs since its inception — closer to its proposed summer 2011 debut.
“It’s been a long, long road getting to this point,” Councilman John Drayman said.
Residents now only have access to pools at select schools, but those facilities give priority to sports programming and other campus activities. Pacific Park had a public pool, but it was demolished as part of the city’s joint Edison Elementary School project in 2003.
On Tuesday, council members expressed excitement that the project, which has previously drawn contention on the dais, was coming closer to fruition.
Councilman Ara Najarian, a swimmer who fought hard against attempts to scale back the pool’s design or cut costs, directed city officials to explore possible grant funding opportunities to subsidize operations costs.
He also asked that the council be kept informed of updates on the pool, so that they could offer input for any potential changes to the design.
One of Najarian’s previous concerns had been with the proposed depth of the pool, with the six-lane version initially proposed to be 5 feet deep. That depth wouldn’t meet state requirements for official swimming matches or for any kind of diving.
But on Tuesday, Capital Projects Administrator Dave Ahern told the council that the pool would be 10 feet at its deepest point, allowing for competition swimming and recreational diving.
Parks, Recreation and Community Services officials have said the pool will allow for a range of new programming, including swimming lessons, open swim and aquatic exercise lessons for seniors.
Officials anticipate a seven-month design period before the project goes out to bid in spring 2010.
The pool is tentatively scheduled to open May 31, 2011.
While the project’s design initially started out as a $10.4-million eight-lane pool, but in March it was scaled down to a six-lane L-shaped version with a $6-million budget, the majority of which is composed of grants.
Mayor Frank Quintero said the project is a topic of excitement among residents, who long for a city pool.
“The residents of Glendale are really going to enjoy this pool,” he said.
