Parks & Rec board may seek proposals on new pool plans

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Parks & Recreation Board took more steps toward figuring out options for a potential new city swimming pool at the board’s meeting last week.

Members began looking at a preliminary request for proposals (RFP) that can be sent to swimming pool companies for ideas on how the companies can work with the city in developing a major overhaul or replacement of the existing 29-year-old swimming pool at Lion’s Field.

The board also began talking about forming a community pool committee to work on planning and eventually promotion of a new pool concept.

“We need to start considering that we might need to bring in other people for the big pool decision, rather than just being Parks & Rec, to get other input,” said Parks and Rec Department Director Tyler Mitchell.

He said he had talked to former Parks & Rec Directer Steve Lindaman, who said when the measure for the current pool  was passed there was a committee including business people and others from the community.

Mitchell said members of the committee should be people who are in favor of the project, because they will be called to promote it to the community once decisions are made.

The board members decided to look over the proposed RFP and talk about it at next month’s regular meeting, as well as thinking about potential members of the committee.

The proposed RFP says the initial preference would be to update the current pool or build a new pool at the current site.

“We would like to consider amenities that would provide something for all ages to enjoy, is close and generally accessible, and visually appealing to the public and is cost effective to operate,” the proposal states.

“This is early stages to see if this is the direction the board wants to go,” Mitchell told the Press after the meeting. “We will not start finalizing this until we have the big pool committee put together.”

The list of potential amenities in the proposed RFP includes zero-depth entry, lap swim lanes, slide or play unit in water for young kids, shade for various areas, another water slide or similar feature in addition to the current slide, rock climbing wall, diving boards, a small lazy river and a volleyball net.

Other potential amenities include a splash pad and shaded areas outside the pool.

“The operational components of the pool are not in good shape and will need to be replaced,” the proposed RFP says. “We just refurbished the current slide at the pool and would like to reuse it at the new facility. If remodeling the current bath house, we would need to completely change the layout.”

Information the RFP asks companies to provide includes:

• Based on our community demographics and potential area draw, what would be your suggested sizing for the potential amenities?

• What is the estimated cost to construct such a facility/facilities (design, development and construction)?

• What is a general timeline from start of discussion to opening of the facility/facilities?

• What is the estimated annual operational costs of proposed facilities?

Members of the board have been talking for years about eventually needing to do something to overhaul or replace the current 29-year-old city pool.

Because the pool did not open this year due to COVID-19 concerns, the board got to walk through the empty structure at its June meeting, with Mitchell pointing out the cracks, leaking joints, broken tiles and other deficiencies including the mechanical room where he said much of the equipment needs to be replaced.

Mitchell said he had already talked with a couple of companies that are interested in doing a proposal, and there are others he is still trying to contact.

Also at the Parks & Rec board meeting last Thursday, the board got an update from Mitchell on the deer hunting project at Wildwood Golf Course. The city has received 10 deer depredation tags to harvest antlerless deer from a herd that is causing damage to the greens.

Mitchell said he has received applications from hunters who are interested and they will be performing proficiency tests this week to determine that those who applied have the bow hunting skills needed to effectively and safely take the deer.

“Hopefully we get some good candidates and go from there,” he said.