View Ridge Swim &Tennis Club - View Ridge Swim and Tennis Club

teenager broke his neck in a backyard pool in Yakima.The settlement was many millions. But they alsosued the organization who set the diving board standards.That judgement was 12 million. As a result,the Health Department, who overseas swimmingpool construction and operation, has developed rigidstandards for diving boards and slides. Since a dropslide is above the water level, the bottom of the poolhas to meet certain criteria. By a mistake in pouringthe bottom, we are 4" too shallow. As a result, ourslide request was turned down. We then asked for avariance. After some time we were granted permissionto proceed - but because it was a variance, wehad to meet a list of requirements.Enter the Virginia Graeme Baker Act. This lawwas passed several summers ago in response to thedrowning of the ex-Secretary of State James Baker'sgranddaughter. Her hair got sucked in the drain of abackyard spa. As a result of this accident - and manymore involving drains - all pools have to complywith this new law. Last summer we even had a visitfrom a representative from Washington DC, impressingon us how serious they will take this requirement.The irony is that Washington State has alwayshad strict drain laws. We are perfectly safe withoutspecial covers, but federal laws trump.We got the Health Department to accept a fix toour main drains. This took almost a year. This solutionallowed us to meet the laws guidelines withoutdigging up the bottoms of the pool. We thought wehad a solution to the drains for the slide. These arelocated on the wall of the deep end. When we emptiedthe pool in March, we installed the best draincovers on the market. We got inspected and were onour way. We then ordered our slide. (Remember, ourslide isn't something you order from a catalog. It'scustom made by WhiteWater, a Canadian company.)Then two weeks later we received a letter from theHealth Department rescinding our approval. Thecovers we had installed were tested for the bottomof pools, not the sides. The federal law is clear onthis. After spending a few weeks trying to get theHealth Department to accept a "work around" it wasclear that the only solution was new covers. Ouroriginal pool contractor said they would do it if wedrained the pool for a week. We got our old friends,The Watermill in Lake City, to come in with divinggear. Those covers are now in place. That means,as of this article, we have two remaining items. Thetreads that cover the metal stairs were manufacturedwrong. Yesterday they arrived and will be installedtoday. (Understand - we are a very small project forWhiteWater. For instance, Claude, one of our originalPOOL CUESView RidgeSwim & Tennis Club5815 N.E. 77thP.O. Box 51079Seattle, Washington 98115524-3500vrstc@vrstc.orgwww.vrstc.orgBoard of TrusteesMary Ruckelshaus........President ...................528-9879John West.....................Building/Grounds.......525-2839Richard Pelly................Tennis.........................522-4953Karen Wolf....................Social.........................527-5971Heather Curtis..............Secretary....................361-0294Rob Burgess.................Vice President............524-8208Jane Fields...................Swim Team................524-7368Drew Kelly....................Treasurer...................525-0542Joel Delman..................Membership..............355-8546.For billing inquiries........Laura Finlon...............985-7880ManagerPeter Kleininstallers, isn't available because he's in the Bahamasinstalling a major water park.) Just as we were aboutto go to press Peter got the call that Rob of GoudyConstruction will come in on Monday and form andpour the first step. When these details are done, wewill ask Phil of the Health Department to come outand inspect.Again, this slide is unique. It's taken a long timeand we appreciate your patience. Enjoy!Remaining ScheduleAs swim team finishes and we move intowater polo season, the schedule gets a bit morecomplicated. Water polo balls are hard and flyfast. You don't want to be swimming laps atthese times. Refer to the calendars to see whenthe pool and lap lanes are available.Also check out the online calendar for linksto more details about activities and events.