Plan would replace some Wichita pools with water playgrounds

The city of Wichita would reopen the shuttered Edgemoor pool and replace four pools with water playgrounds under a plan presented Tuesday to City Council members.

Aley and Evergreen pools would stay open as pools but close for a season to receive upgrades. Orchard, McAdams, Linwood and Boston pools would be replaced with water playgrounds, which feature slides, showers and water jets.

Minisa pool would be converted into park space or a recreation area tied to the nearby Little Arkansas River. And College Hill and Harvest pools would get improvements if enough money was available at the end of the wave of capital projects.

“We had a hard time with ‘what is the best priority?’ ” said Troy Houtman, the city parks and recreation director who presented an updated aquatics plan at a City Council workshop session. “And somewhere along the line, somebody’s going to be losing out on a pool. But we’re trying to make sure that if that’s the case, we have a splash pad or a water playground in its place.

“That’s something that a lot of folks are really interested in — not necessarily swimming in a rectangular swimming pool but having something that they can splash their neighbors and their friends and have a good time.”

City Manager Robert Layton said the city first started discussions about an aquatics master plan “to recognize the changing conditions of the pools and the market.”

“While many of us are nostalgic regarding our times at the pools, the numbers don’t bear out that that’s really that popular,” Layton said. “You’re going to find many more children using the water playgrounds than you are with swimming pools.”

The city has allocated $18 million to spend on designing and making pool improvements through the end of 2023.

Initial work

In 2017, city staff wants to make an inventory of all 10 city-owned pools. They also want to evaluate the soil at the city’s Edgemoor pool, which closed in 2012 after constant leaks due to its aging structure.

“It is vital for us to get Edgemoor pool up and running again; we need an east-side location,” said Brian Hill, the city’s aquatics manager. The pool is at Ninth and Edgemoor, between Oliver and Woodlawn.

Design work for new aquatic facilities and new water playgrounds would happen the following year. City staff tout the water playgrounds for their savings and their rising popularity.

“It reduces our cost of water, it reduces our chemical costs, and the big one is obviously … you don’t have to staff them with lifeguards,” Hill said.

2019 to 2023

The city could start spending part of $18 million from its capital improvement program in 2019. Here’s work that Parks and Recreation would want to do over the course of five years with that money:

▪ 2019: Close and demolish the McAdams pool near 13th and I-135. Close and demolish the Boston pool near Harry and Woodlawn. Start work on a new Edgemoor pool.

▪ 2020: Open the new Edgemoor pool and water playgrounds at the former Boston and McAdams pools. Close the Evergreen pool on the north side and the Aley pool near Harry and South Seneca.

▪ 2021: Open the new Evergreen pool. Close the Minisa pool and reopen the location as part of the park. Begin remodeling the Aley pool.

▪ 2022: Open the new Aley pool. Close and demolish the Linwood pool and Orchard Park pool. Both would be converted into water playgrounds.

▪ 2023: The Orchard and Linwood water playgrounds would open. Any funds left over would be used to improve the College Hill pool and Harvest pool near Northwest High School.

Quick council takes

Council members praised the work put into the master plan. They will need to approve any plan in a formal vote.

“I understand the need to try to figure out different ways to come up with different programming,” council member Bryan Frye said.

“And, as a parent of young children, these water playgrounds are fantastic and allow for reduced costs (and) longer operating hours.”

Council member Peter Meitzner expressed doubts about spending money on pool renovations, calling it “an industry that has limited use of months, limited times of day.”

“The pictures and the plans look great if you didn’t have to think about the facts,” Meitzner said, noting the success of YMCA indoor pools that are open all year.

Council member Lavonta Williams raised concerns about closing public pools in the inner city for a season.

“I’m just trying to see how that’s going to look for those kids who have no transportation to the YMCA and are not YMCA members,” she said.

Council member Janet Miller also noted the lack of public pools in central Wichita.

“My constituents have pointed it out to me time and again over the years,” she said. “Hopefully kids and families in that area have transportation that they can get to the other pools.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Plan would replace some Wichita pools with water playgrounds."