Numerous deficiencies have closed the La Jolla Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower such as sewage backups, pest-control issues and alleged construction flaws have residents and public officials asking, What happened?
“The Children’s Pool tower was closed in 2007 due to health concerns,” said Chester Mordasini, president of Teamsters Local 911. “The lifeguards have been working out of temporary facilities ever since.”
Noting the Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower covers observation for more than nine city blocks of coastline, Mordasini said, “The current City CIP (including project contractor bidding) process is not working.” Pointing out city construction projects have a 40-hour-a-week city employee resident engineer inspect and overseeing them, Mordasini added, “Low bid is a factor. But project management is the real issue.”
Mordasini said “the amount of time and effort needed to build and maintain the construction and defects is overwhelming. It exhausts lifeguard resources and fire facility resources. There is a complete lack of accountability within the CIP process. This is the fourth tower in eight years. All four are heavily flawed.”
Noting problems at Children’s Pool “continue to plague us,” Mordasini cited one example. “Recently, they (city) moved forward with the installation of furniture, knowing that the furniture would have to be removed in six weeks to install flooring,” he said. The new $4.7 million Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower was opened June 27, only to be plagued almost immediately by its public restrooms backing up and leaking into lifeguard showers and locker rooms temporarily closing public toilets and forcing lifeguards to retreat into a temporary trailer.
Addressing ongoing infrastructure issues at Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower, city PIO Monica Munoz said “this lifeguard station design conformed to distinct site conditions and addressed engineering challenges (to CP Tower). However, even with all the planning and numerous measures taken to deliver the project on time and on budget, unique unavoidable impacts occurred.”
Recapping the Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower project, Munoz noted design work started in January 2013, with a July 2013 construction start and ending in June 2016.
The Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower project was unique in a number of respects.
“The City obtained a special federal permit from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) because of the close proximity of the project to the harbor seal rookery on the beach,” Munoz said, adding that permit required the City to monitor noise levels, seal activity and avoid visual impacts to the seals.
“This limited all construction activities at the La Jolla Children’s Pool Lifeguard Station to take place outside of the harbor seal pupping season from Dec. 15 through June 1,” she said. “The moratorium only allowed for construction to take place about five and a half months of the year.”
Munoz pointed out the original Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower was constructed over an abandoned sewer pump station.
“The as-built plans used to develop the new Children’s Pool Lifeguard Station caused an unforeseen impact that contributed to a delay of the overall project schedule as they did not accurately reflect how much of the abandoned sewer pump station’s concrete structures remained below ground,” Munoz said.
“In addition, while construction activities were on hold because of the harbor seal pupping season, seagulls used the vacant construction site as a (protected) nesting area. which halted construction for four months, with total construction taking 14 months spread across three years.”
Also, Munoz noted the pump station supporting Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower and the adjacent public restrooms was designed without a grinding system.
“Items such as diapers, articles of clothing and feminine hygiene products were flushed down the toilet, clogging the facility’s pumps. Once cleaned and with the obstructions removed, the pumps operated as designed.
Munoz said new Children’s Pool Lifeguard Tower vortex-style pumps “have sharp blades to assist with cutting up material if needed … This improves how wastewater is pushed into the system. The two new vortex pumps will also have larger openings to better handle objects that are smaller than three inches.”
The City PIO added “a new remote alarm system will also be installed to notify City personnel of high wastewater levels and of any pump failures to help prevent backups. … upgrades will allow easier access to facilitate maintenance and the ability to remove obstructions expeditiously, so that the restrooms can remain operational for public use.”
“The maintenance/repair work on the sewer is being conducted by the same contractor that constructed the facility because the facility is presently under the warranty period,” added Munoz. “We anticipate repairs will be complete at the end of October. The contractor has not yet sent an invoice so we don’t have the total cost.”