Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday voiced concerns about some testing that had not yet been completed for the existing Outdoor Aquatic Center but voted to move forward with a pool concept that is within the city’s budgeted amount.
The city has been planning a roughly $6 million renovation of the center, at 727 Kentucky St., and seeking public feedback on various iterations over the past few months. City staff members and representatives of SFS Architecture, Waters Edge and Vireo boiled public feedback into three final concepts — two of which were more than $1 million over the budget set aside for the project.
The commission’s approval on Tuesday does not commit the city to spending any money on the project. Additional agenda items will come back to the commission for further approvals.
Mark Hecker, assistant director of parks for the Parks and Recreation department, said he put renovations to the pool on the city’s capital improvement plan five years ago and “these are not things that we just came up with.” He said the city continues to pump money into the facility and the city needs to think about “really doing a major overhaul of it.”
Jeff Bartley, principal and professional engineer with Kansas City, Kansas-based Waters Edge Aquatic Design, said an assessment of the current pool found that a significant part of the existing pool is disintegrating. The shallow lane of the pool is sinking by a couple of inches, and assessors had concerns about cracking in the structure, Bartley told commissioners. He said he couldn’t put a timeline on how long the pool would last in its current condition but that there would be ongoing deterioration.
The current surface area of the pool has about 19,000 square feet, according to the meeting agenda. Each of the three proposed concepts added new features, including a lazy river, a leisure pool and a splash pad, but those take away from the existing pool space.
The concept the commissioners voted to move forward with, a $6.1 million renovation, would have about 3,000 square feet less water recreation space than the current pool. Luis Ruiz, executive director of Parks and Recreation for the city, said the cost of the project would be paid for through debt service.
Here’s the current pool, compared to the approved renovation concept:
Some swimmers voiced concerns about the limited hours of available pools in town and said making the pool smaller would exacerbate current limits. Some people who gave public comment said the budget for the project would be better spent paying lifeguards to staff the pool for additional hours or lowering the cost of admittance. One person told commissioners that contractors would gain financially from telling them the pool concept needs to happen.
One public commenter who uses a wheelchair asked commissioners to please keep an accessible ramp entrance to the pool, which he said is his only form of exercise. The project team has also discussed chair lifts, and the commenter said he had tried to use one of those once and almost drowned.
Some commissioners raised concerns about older, existing infrastructure that would still be in place as part of the proposed concepts.
“If we really haven’t done hydrostatic pressure testing on the piping we plan on using for the next 30 years, I don’t know, I just — it just makes me wonder if we’re going to spend all this money on some mixed-aged infrastructure and then end up with a bunch of problems down the road, because we patched it together,” Vice Mayor Mike Dever said.
Commissioner Lisa Larsen, too, said she was concerned about piping because those working on the project said “we don’t think it’s leaking” without doing any testing.
Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said the commission could approve the basic concept so the project team could look further into certain aspects of the project, estimated costs and additional testing of the infrastructure.
“What I’m asking for is proof that when we spend $6 million, that the infrastructure that is in place is suitable and will live as long as the rest of the equipment that is underground,” Dever said. “And if we are not certain of that fact, then we should probably probably reconsider whether or not we want to replace the plumbing.”
The goal is to get construction underway in midsummer 2025, leading to a grand opening in summer of 2026, said Jake Baldwin, engineering program manager with the city’s Municipal Services and Operations department.
Finkeldei asked presenters if that meant swimming season would be cut short in 2025. Ruiz said they hoped construction would fall between the two swimming seasons, but Baldwin said it would depend in part on how quickly construction plans could get finalized.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the first concept with the addition of an accessible ramp, asking for city staff to seek additional bids on a larger lazy river and additional shading, and to complete further testing to better understand the costs. Larsen opposed the motion.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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