Central pool bathhouse, deck to get half-million-dollar upgrade

The Central Municipal Pool will undergo a half-million-dollar remodeling this spring, including what some city officials describe as significant improvements to the swimming pool's bathhouse and deck.

But the project, expected to be mostly finished by June, still isn't sitting well with at least one city council member, who has been saying for months that the bathhouse is "an embarrassment to the city" that needs to be replaced.

"I am disappointed," said Loretta Schneider, who represents Ward 4. "I'm not happy about it at all."

Schneider acknowledged that, while she originally thought it was, the money isn't in the budget to replace the bathhouse, which would cost much more than remodeling. The $507,000 will pay for the last significant parks project from the $20 million Parks and Recreation storm-water sales tax, approved by voters in 2008.

"We've made the best of the situation, I hope," Schneider said. "I'm anxious to see the work get started, because it certainly is needed."

At its meeting this week, the council entered into a $507,317 agreement with Penzel Construction Co. to remodel the bathhouse, the pool deck area and for new deck equipment. The pool, which is owned as a partnership between the city and the public school system, opened this month in 1980. It is commonly known as "the bubble," because an air-compressed fabric bubble is put up during the fall and winter. The 31-year-old pool is on the campus of Central Junior High School.

About two-thirds of the money will pay to renovate the bathhouse, said project manager David Markey of Kennesaw, Ga., who also designed Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center.

"A lot of it's nuts and bolts, plumbing fixtures and partitions," Markey said. "It reconfigures the function of the bathhouse, how you go in and how you go through. It's definitely not going to be new. It's a cleanup, fix-up type thing."

Schneider had complained about privacy because the changing areas are open and that people have to walk through the changing areas to get to the pool, even if they come already in bathing suits. She also said the bathrooms were in bad shape.

The project will reconfigure the showers, incorporating a private change area. The center of the bathhouse will now be a "control corridor," where men and women will walk through before going to the appropriate dressing or shower rooms, Markey said.

"There are some improvements that will make it more private," Markey said.

A family change room accessible to the disabled is also being constructed near the bathhouse entrance, he said. A small meeting room is being erected in the bathhouse, too, he said.

The project also calls for repairs to be made to the pool deck to improve its appearance and to make it less slippery, Markey said. A plasterlike product will be put on top of the deck, he said. Drainage work will also be repaired around the deck of the Olympic-size pool, he said. The fencing around the pool's perimeter will also be repaired, he said.

"It's not real dramatic," Markey said. "None of the work will be real dramatic. Obviously, we're not changing the overall footprint of the space, so there are some real limitations."

The work is scheduled to be substantially done by June 10, though Markey cautioned that would be "a real push."

"They won't be finished," he said. "But we're looking for it to be usable. ... I think it will be substantially improved."

When it's finished, it will mean the pool will have undergone almost $1 million in improvements over the past year. The $430,000 replacement of the air-supported structure -- the actual bubble -- was completed in October, said city manager Scott Meyer. The city paid half of that with parks tax money and the school district paid the other half, he said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

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