In February 2019, staff from Alameda County Department of Environmental Health (ACDEH) informed the District that ACDEH would be closing the Emma Hood Swim Center, located at Alameda High School, as of May 31, 2019, for health and safety concerns.

ACDEH later on, agreed to reopen the swimming pool upon completion of certain short-term repairs and further directed that the swim center be brought up to current code requirements. ACDEH allowed the District to keep the swim center open till May 2022; thereafter, ACDEH will permanently close the existing Swim Center. The short-term repairs have been completed.

A Pool Ad-Hoc Committee consisting of two AUSD Board Members, two City Council Members, community and student representatives, and staff from both agencies, was created to discuss the future of the Emma Hood swim center. The Ad-Hoc Committee reached a consensus that a new Swim Center was needed to cater to the needs of District students and the community swim groups and that the best place to host the new swim center would be the existing Emma Hood swim center location. Based on work done by the Ad-Hoc Committee, an MOU was signed between the City and the District that outlined a long-term pool replacement plan with timelines and milestones for construction of a new City Aquatic Center. In June 2019, the Board of Education and the City Council approved the MOU.

On September 10, 2019, the Board of Education received the report of the District Advisory Committee declaring the Emma Hood property surplus and directed the staff to start negotiating a long-term lease with the City of Alameda.

The City Aquatic Center, though proposed to be located at Alameda High School, will be a recreational aquatic facility not subject to DSA’s jurisdiction and will be built in compliance with California Building Code (CBC). 

Tonight staff is presenting the negotiated lease between the City of Alameda and the Alameda Unified School District for the Board’s action.

The proposed lease has a 60-year term and would allow the City to construct, maintain, and operate an aquatic center at the Emma Hood Swim Center located at the Alameda High School. In return, the District would get priority usage of 735 hours, on an annual basis, at no cost to the District. The lease document does not provide a schedule of how these 735 hours would be used by the District. The two parties agreed to meet twice a year to discuss scheduling, logistics, and other concerns related to the District’s priority use of the City Aquatic center, based on historical use patterns, including morning and afternoon hours. This flexibility is intended to address concerns related to changes in use patterns, such as those that may come up with the upcoming later school start and dismissal times.

The City of Alameda approved the attached lease document at its City Council’s meeting on the 21st of January, 2020.