ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Parts of Adventure Bay Water Park are starting to show their age and need upgrading, and Tuesday, the Liberal City Commission got to hear some proposals regarding just that.
“As everyone will remember, at the July 8 meeting, the Liberal City Commission approved an agreement with Waters Edge Aquatic Design to do a full scale facility review of Adventure Bay Water Park. The intent of the audit was to identify potential safety and equipment concerns and provide an estimate of repairs versus a quote for a complete overhaul of the park,” City Manager Scarlette Diseker said. “With Adventure Bay starting to age, city staff felt this assessment would assist in starting a conversation about the future plans of the water park and how the commission wishes to move forward. With ongoing talks between the City of Liberal, Seward County Community College, and USD 480 regarding the need for a new indoor swimming facility, we feel the condition of the existing park needs to be examined and taken into consideration before funds can be appropriated either way. The quotes were as follows: for the repair of existing facility (pump house, basin, features, pool deck, office, and restrooms), that would be $1,748,500, and a total overhaul and reconstruction of a new facility would be $7,657,000. Not included in the overhaul quote were utilities, parking, parking lot lighting, furniture, fixtures, equipment, and contractor’s general conditions. There is a lot to consider, and I wanted to make sure these conversations were taking place before the public.”
Recreation Director Matt Quint went into more depth with the proposals.
“A first option is to fix up the current water park and make improvements where necessary and replace what has aged out,” Quint said. “We’ve talked about the water filters, sandblasting the pools, etc., and we’ve gone over extending the life as much as we can of everything. There are many places where the paint is chipping, and you need that grip and stability especially on a zero-entry pool, so that’s definitely something we’ll have to take care of. We usually do all the pools all together so they’re on the same paint cycle. There are some other issues that need addressed – the pump house is leaking, and there are other issues associated with that including broken pipes and concrete. It’s an aging pool, and there’s work that needs to be done to make everything how it’s supposed to be. With that proposal, that would be the company going in and fixing/replacing what’s needed and keeping things going. We would be able to open the pool next summer, we would just need to scale back some things while all of that is going on.”
Quint then talked about the option to overhaul the facility.
“There are multiple options with that, and the number Scarlette mentioned earlier is a base to get us started,” Quint said. “It’s almost like a buffet, we can pick and choose what needs done. A big priority for us is a lazy river, that’s a request we’ve been getting from many people for the past several years, so that’s something we want to have included. We’d also like to see inclusion of slides for children, splash pads, and other little attractions like that. Something else on my wishlist is a surfing pool, which is a very big attraction at other pools, and no other pool in this region has that. We have ideas for our younger patrons, our older patrons and everyone in between so everyone will have fun. We want to take this back and forth with the community and get people’s thoughts and build it how they want to see it. Again that number is just a base, and there are many factors to consider.”
Adventure Bay Water Park Director Ismael Carrillo also had some thoughts to share with the commission regarding the day-to-day operations.
“The very first thing I do every day is take a lap around the park to see how much water we lost from pipes, from normal drainage and usage, and I also go around and turn on all the fills, which takes about the entire morning to get them back up to where they’re needed,” Carrillo said. “We then go through and see what chemicals are needed. Some of the issues we’ve had include busted pipes and/or uneven ground. When it comes to the safety aspect of everything, we’ve had to put mats down to where the lack of evenness is so people don’t trip in those areas. We’ve had to call EMS on someone who did fall and trip on uneven ground and had to go to the hospital. The majority of my job, since I’ve been there, has been to keep everything going and keep everything as safe as possible. We have great lifeguards and great people who are out there to help everyone else, and we train for multiple potential scenarios. Another big issue is, because we have had busted pipes from a main line to the pools, we have to move the chlorinators so they can function properly, and those have their own necessary maintenance. As has already been said, our pools are aging and slowly not working. As far as the ship and the Hydrostorm, those have to be cleaned out multiple times a day because of the pressure being lost in those aging pipes. Adventure Bay has been a great place for me and my family, my children learned how to swim there, and it’s been a great place to help grow that swim knowledge to others in the community. There is a great need for this facility not just as an attraction, but for safety so people can learn how to swim.”
The commission then had the chance to ask some questions about the project.
“If we did just the repairs, how long would those last for?” Liberal Vice Mayor Matt Landry asked. “Will those repairs hold a long time, or will someone need to come in in a few years and do all of that again? I don’t want to put millions of dollars’ worth of essentially band-aid solutions, because all of that really adds up over time. That’s really the biggest concern I would have in terms of going with that type of option.”
“I know there has also been the option put out there of waiting for the STAR Bond so we could include the indoor pool and Adventure Bay Water Park so very little money comes from the City of Liberal side,” Liberal Mayor Jose Lara said. “Or, we begin the process of preparing to bond this project out with 1-cent sales tax money. And this doesn’t technically address the problem with the school district, because that one, at the cheapest, is around $5 million, but closer to $15 million for a full-on aquatic center the college would be able to use. With that, you’d be looking at $8 to $10 million for a water park and then $5 to $15 million for an indoor water pool. I would prefer a STAR Bond for a project like that.”
Ultimately, the commission decided it will continue discussions on the project at a work session that will take place at a future date.
