As part of an effort to build an aquatic facility that meets the needs of area residents, the JeffCo Aquatic Coalition launched a survey Feb. 1, with nearly 1,300 residents responding within one week.

“There’s a lot of great comments in there from all camps, from people across the board,” said Diane McDade, president of the coalition. “It shows a high level of engagement; 697 added in their own written responses.”

McDade noted that the survey had been out for a little more than a week and would remain open until the end of March.

“We’re tracking two things,”McDade said, “Number of responses and where. We want to get answers from across the county.”

The survey comes after the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners selected a Chimacum School District property in Port Hadlock as the preferred site for a new aquatic recreation facility.

The decision, made at the commissioners meeting on Jan. 27, was necessary to meet site requirements for a Local Community Project funding application due by Feb. 21.

The next steps include the county forming a public facilities district (PFD) to oversee the project and finalizing an interlocal agreement with the school district before the funding application deadline.

Once the PFD is formed, its board members will have the authority to reconsider the location or even to cancel the project altogether.

The selection of the property was approved unanimously, with the center slated to be built on the west side of the property, said McDade.

“This parcel is currently home to the Chimacum Elementary School, its school garden and outdoor playground,” McDade wrote. “The Chimacum School District Board is very excited about working collaboratively with the county and the new PFD to re-imagine this parcel to ensure optimal aquatic facility location, parking, pedestrian and bike paths. They are interested in improving their playground and garden to new locations.”

Chimacum School District Superintendent Scott Mauk recently posted a video on social media celebrating the site selection.

McDade said that members of the aquatic coalition are prepared to present information at public forums, homeowners association meetings and to other groups with regular meetings.

She said there are two upcoming sessions for the public to learn more. The first will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock. The second is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 28 at the Quilcene Community Center.

McDade said things looked ever more promising for the future of the project with both the school district board and board of county commissioners supporting the new site location.

“Where to place it became quite a debate. The move to the county has opened up new possibilities,” McDade said. “This has been talked about for so long. For those of us that have been trying so hard it seems now that we’re much closer.”