Planning starts for new Morro Bay and SLO high school swimming pools

A new swimming pool at Morro Bay High School will be one of the first improvements made with money from the $177 million bond passed by voters in November.

San Luis Coastal Unified School District trustees recently approved several contracts with consulting firms to begin designing pools for Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo high schools. The pools will cost an estimated $13 million, said Anthony Palazzo, the district’s director of facilities, operations and transportation.

The pools — 25 yards by 35 meters — will be designed for the high school water sports and physical education courses, but they also will be open to the public.

They will be designed simultaneously. However, construction of the pool at Morro Bay High School will begin first, likely in early 2016, to help minimize the impact when the Cuesta College pool — which Morro Bay students currently use for water polo and swimming — undergoes extensive renovations in early 2016. Because space is already dedicated for the pool at Morro Bay High School at the center of campus south of the gym, it will be easy to begin work there, Palazzo said.

At the San Luis Obispo campus, it will take more time to get the location ready without affecting students, he said.

“San Luis Obispo is a much tighter campus,” Palazzo said. “We want to make sure we are keeping kids in classrooms as long as we can. As soon as it makes sense for that campus, we will start construction there.”

Students at San Luis Obispo High School now use the nearby Sinsheimer pool.

Seventy-one percent of voters passed the bond, Measure D, to make major repairs and build facilities at the district’s two main high schools.

The bond also will be used to pay for repairs at the school district’s small continuation high school and some minor repairs at elementary and middle schools.

The school board has chosen three architecture firms for the various projects that will be paid for by the bond. Those firms are PMSM Architects of San Luis Obispo, RRM Design Group of San Luis Obispo, and KBZ Architects of Santa Barbara.

Upgrades planned for the high school campuses include repairing numerous classrooms, installing modern technology, upgrading restrooms, fixing leaky roofs, updating fire alarms and renovating locker rooms, as well as the swimming pools.

This story was originally published December 27, 2014 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Planning starts for new Morro Bay and SLO high school swimming pools."