Pool projects moving along
Work on new features at area parks on time; expected to be ready by early June
A $2.75 million project to add pizzazz to Spokane Valley’s pools is going swimmingly, according to Parks Director Mike Stone.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Stone told the City Council Tuesday.
The work is “well within the contingency dollars that were set up for this project and on time at this point,” he said in an interview.
Stone said work at the Park Road Pool, including installation of a 27-foot-tall water slide, is nearly done.
“We now have a real good marketing tool,” he said. “You can see it from the freeway.”
Stone facetiously invited council members to “take a ride” Monday during Health District tests of the slide’s pumping system.
No one on the council volunteered. Stone said some staff members have said they “might enjoy doing that, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen.”
It would be great, though, he said, if some council members wanted to inaugurate the slide during its grand opening in June.
Work on all three pools is expected to be done by the first week of June, when next summer’s swimming season begins. Stone said he believes the contractor, Kilgore Construction, expects to hand over the Park Road work by the end of December.
Foundations have been poured at Terrace View pool and excavation has begun for a new “zero-depth entry” pool that slopes up to ground level at one end.
“There’s a lot of activity going on there at Terrace View right now,” Stone said.
Work also is under way at Valley Mission pool, which is to get a “lazy river” ride in the final phase of the contract. The old pool decking is being ripped out, Stone said.
He said no concrete can be poured this winter, but some work may continue if weather permits.
New bathhouses already have been built at each pool.
Stone said the project has had relatively few change orders, mostly related to design problems.
“We told them, for example, at Terrace View that there was a septic tank in position X and, of course, it was in position Y,” Stone said.
He said a design change was made to correct a minor problem, discovered at the Park Road pool, with getting concrete slabs to line up evenly.