Water’s Edge, pool committee design concepts for potential upgrade

The next step toward improvements and funding for an aquatic center upgrade is underway following the pool committee’s two-day public hearing last week.

A few members of the public met with Water’s Edge and the rest of the pool committee to give feedback on a handful of design optionsthe design firm had produced.

The public feedback coupled with more pool committee ideas will lead to the next step in the early stages of this project.

“They were going to go back and put it into the drafting software and come up with a couple of more concrete designs so we can start coming up with costs,” said Samantha Baird, head of the pool committee.

Five designs had been sketched out for the public to view last week. Every design option presented included the current pool and wading pool that currently make up the aquatic center.

After the presentation, the public in attendance were given the chance to write down feedback on comment cards.

“We kind of wanted to get the public input considering how, ultimately, it will be a community project,” said Baird.

Water’s Edge pitched ideas such as connecting the two pools via current channels, or progressively deeper play areas.

Initial pitches also included adding a third shallow pool – with the pool eventually deepening to six feet – to the aquatic center allowing water slides to have a specific plunge area unattached to the lap pool.

All ideas included adding grass and rock aesthetic features to liven up the pool area and give patrons somewhere to sit that isn’t just concrete.

Almost every idea included a zero-depth entry to the wading pool for children. Zero-depth entry means children can walk directly into a pool that progressively deepens rather than walking down stairs or stepping over a wall.

Other ideas for children included play areas, water sculptures and dump buckets.

Ideas from Water’s Edge extended beyond simply upgrading the pools. The firm also pitched changing the layout of the bathhouse to remove the split entryway based on gender. The idea behind this was to keep families together as they entered the facility before they eventually went off into their respective bathrooms.

As for the next step of the project, Baird hopes that the committee will receive more input with pricing estimates by the end of next week.

As for a time frame of when the new, updated designs will be available to the public, Baird wasn’t sure.

“Ultimately, we will probably have a couple designs to put to the public, probably on some sort of social media format,” said Baird. “And people can vote on their favorite design.”

Time and fundraising will be the project’s next challenge, following future design ideas.

“It’s quite a long process; they told me to expect three years from beginning to end, if we can get the funds raised,” Baird said.

Further information will be available in future editions of the News Advertiser.