The Unalaska Aquatic Center Study Will Decide Where the Town Swims Next

At the Pumpkin Plunge on Saturday, October 24, kids swam through a floating pumpkin patch and then carried their picks up to the mezzanine for glitter and paint. That mezzanine is listed in a city document as too small and poorly ventilated. Some programs already spill over into the school gym next door when it's free. The room is one entry on a long list the City of Unalaska wrote about its own pool this summer.

That list is the backbone of a study now underway. On September 8, 2026, the Unalaska City Council passed Resolution 2026-56. It authorized a $200,000 contract with LCG Lantech, Inc. for an Aquatics Center feasibility study. Seven firms had sent proposals, and LCG Lantech scored highest. The study weighs three options: renovate the building, rebuild it on the same site, or move the pool somewhere else in town. Read the city's description of the building closely and the third option stops looking like a long shot. Most of what's wrong with the Aquatic Center isn't in the water. It's in everything built around the water.

A building that was never meant to be the town pool

The Aquatic Center went up in 1981 as part of the additions to Unalaska High School. The city took over running it from the Unalaska City School District in 1999. It then swapped the original aluminum pool for the concrete one in use today. A second remodel in 2016 redid the locker rooms, doubled the size of the sauna and added a family locker room. KUCB covered the reopening after six months of work.

So the pool has already been renovated twice. Each time the work improved what swimmers touch. The structure it all sits in kept aging. The resolution says the facility is more than 40 years old. It says its major mechanical, electrical and building envelope systems are past their expected service life, the roof membrane is failing in areas, and the filtration and chemical treatment systems are obsolete.

The water itself holds up better. The city's request for proposals describes a 42-by-75-foot saltwater pool holding about 141,000 gallons. It has six 25-yard lanes with new starting blocks, a 15-by-19-foot warming alcove with jets, and main-pool water kept at 82 to 84 degrees. The two-loop, 12-foot waterslide is still there, though it takes two staff members to run. A large digital clock handles race timing with the Colorado Timing System.

Where the problems actually are

The city's "Key Issues" section reads room by room, and the pool tank barely shows up in it. Here's what the RFP lists, in the city's terms:

• Pool deck: 5.5 to 7.5 feet wide. That's tight for backboard rescues and leaves little spectator seating at swim meets.
• Sound system: Damaged by roof leaks and a burst fire sprinkler, and the microphone no longer works.
• Sauna: It's a dry sauna with no floor drain, so wet swimmers leave puddles that staff soak up with towels. Moisture is damaging the wood, and the light fixtures aren't rated for heat, so they burn out often.
• Locker rooms: Automatic shower valves fail to turn on or off, hot water is slow and pressure is weak. The single family locker room backs up at closing. The men's side became undersized after the 2016 swap.
• Plumbing: Old pipes in the walls, with no adequate map of where they run.
• Laundry room: Runs hot enough that an ice machine kept breaking down and was removed.

Two items go deeper than wear and tear. The pump room runs a three-step system: a chlorine generator that converts salt to chlorine, two large sand-and-gravel filters, then UV treatment. The city writes that much of that equipment is so old replacement parts are no longer made. If one critical piece fails, the likely fix is full-scale re-piping, and replacing one component often means overhauling the whole system. The roof leaks throughout the facility, and the RFP says many attempts to fix it have failed.

There's a space problem too. Staff turned one of the Community Center's two racquetball courts into equipment storage. Because that's a separate building, supplies get hauled to the pool for every event.

The timing of the sauna complaint lines up with right now. The city says the sauna can't keep up during fishing seasons and the colder months. Both arrived this month. The Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea snow crab and Tanner crab seasons opened October 15. KUCB reported that the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers expect the higher catch limits to bring the fleet up to around 45 vessels for the season.

Why moving is a real option

When the problems sit in the roof, the pipes, the deck width and the room layout, renovation means keeping the same footprint. The RFP spells out what the city wants: an aquatic center "that will last us 30 plus years." The relocation option ties into another idea, a larger multiuse building or field house elsewhere in the community.

That idea predates the study. The Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan, adopted under Resolution 2025-16, says the Aquatic Center needs renovation. It also records that community members prioritized new weight rooms and an indoor field house. Its aquatics strategy goes further and calls for replacing the existing center with a new 25-yard-by-25-meter competition and recreation pool. BerryDunn LLC prepared the plan with ETC Institute and the Anchorage firm Bettisworth North.

Land is the catch. The RFP itself notes that most of the outdoor space that could hold future park and facility projects isn't owned by the City of Unalaska. It also lists the island's building conditions: strong seismic forces, heavy ground snow loads, wind-driven precipitation, corrosive marine air and remoteness. That's why the study has to score candidate sites against a weighted matrix. The factors include acquisition costs, site preparation, parcel size, ownership status, utilities, zoning, accessibility, visibility and room to expand.

The required deliverables, per the RFP, line up like this:

All three cost estimates have to cover construction, soft costs and long-term maintenance, with assumptions for escalation and contingencies. The report also has to suggest funding sources and say whether phasing, grants or partnerships are realistic. That last line matters. The study ends with a recommendation and a set of price tags. It doesn't fund or build anything.

Who's doing the work, and when residents come in

LCG Lantech describes itself on its own site as a 13-person team with more than 1,250 Alaska projects, including community centers and schools. The firm has had an office in downtown Anchorage since the end of 2013.

The scope requires stakeholder engagement with city staff, community members, the school district and the local tribal organization. The city hasn't posted a date for that engagement yet. The study's project page on unalaska.gov is the place to watch.

The RFP's schedule, which the city says it can extend:

1. July 8, 2026: RFP issued
2. August 10, 2026: Proposals due, with seven received
3. September 8, 2026: Council authorizes the LCG Lantech contract
4. 180 days of work, with completion expected by March 17, 2027
5. By April 13, 2027: Final report presented in person in Unalaska

What stays the same this winter

Nothing in the study changes the pool schedule. PCR's posted weekly hours have weekday lap swim from 5:30 to 7 a.m. and noon to 2 p.m. Weekday open swim runs 5 to 8:30 p.m. with two lanes kept for laps. Weekend open swim runs 2 to 6 p.m., again with two lap lanes. Daily admission is $5 for adults 19 to 59 and $2 for ages 5 to 18. It's free for ages four and under and for 60 and up.

The fall programs keep going into December. Friday Splash runs through December 11 and Youth Swimmers practice through December 1. Aqua Fit continues Mondays through December 28 and Tot-Time Tuesdays through December 29. School swim lessons wrap up November 20. The pool closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and sometimes for special events.

Halloween moves across town on Friday, October 30, when PCR's Halloween Event runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Community Center Gymnasium and is open to all ages.

At Beloved Alaska Realty, we follow projects like this one because a town's shared buildings shape everyday life on an island as much as any single property does. If you own in Unalaska or are weighing a remote Southwest Alaska purchase and want a local read on what's changing nearby, request a virtual tour or local consultation.