It could cost upwards of $1 million to repair, reopen pool
by Mark Craddock
WALSENBURG — A recently completed assessment of the Walsenburg Wild Waters shows that the facility will need nearly $600,000 in maintenance and improvements to reopen the pool.
And to keep the pool open for the next three to five years, the facility will need mechanical system renovation, play equipment replacement and possible work on the pool shell itself which may bring the total well over $1 million.
Walsenburg’s 2023 capital improvements plan call for $250,000 in pool rehabilitation but, absent significant grants, that will not be enough to reopen the facility.
But the point of the pool study, and a late-September move by city council to partner with Synergy Sports Charlotte, LLC, is the prospect of vying for a Colorado Health Foundation grant to rehabilitate all of City Park — including Wild Waters.
On Sept. 20, the city council directed then-interim city administrator Gaye Davis to move ahead with plans to partner up with Synergy Sports Charlotte, LLC, and seek some $900,000 in Colorado Health Foundation grants to refurbish the waterpark and other amenities at Walsenburg City Park.
In her report to the council that night, Davis said Brad Rice of the city parks department, water supervisor Monty Morgan and she attended a Zoom meeting in which CHF officials identified the renovation and repair of City Park as a project they would like to be involved with.
Davis said the discussions with CHF and Synergy grew out of a relationship Morgan and his wife Brenda had while working with Huerfano RE-1 School District on a trail project funded by CHF.
Davis told council members she just received a proposal from Synergy in which the firm would provide due diligence and, ultimately, project management assuming the CHF indeed funds the project. The agreement would cost the city nothing up-front, Davis said. Synergy’s agreement calls for the firm to get 3% of the total project cost, which would come from the CHF grant funds.
The council unanimously passed a motion directing Mayor Charles Bryant to enter into the agreement with Synergy, and for Davis to move forward with the CHF grant.
This month’s assessment, performed by Counsilman-Hunsaker, a national firm with an office in Lakewood, specializing in consultation and project management of aquatic facilities, was the first step toward that end.
The bottom line
“Overall, the Walsenburg Wild Waters is in fair condition and about halfway through its expected lifespan,” the report states. “The items in the report detail items that need to be addressed along with their associated costs to keep the Aquatic Park functional and up to current industry codes and standards.”
The list includes the following:
• Ensure all wall and floor inlets have covers: no cost;
• Fixed gaps in zero-depth entry grating: $1,400;
• Replace seal the water slide: $20,000;
• Examine the filter sand: no cost (unless replacement is necessary);
• Perform a water-tightness test on the pool shell: $15,000 (additional repair costs may be required based on the results of this test);
• Interior and exterior recoat and caulking of water slides: $115,200;
• Sand blast and recoat water slide tower: $68,500;
• Retrofit waterslide tower treads and decking to Smart Tread: $59,650;
• Perform leak/ pressure test on existing pool piping: $15,000;
• Investigate cause of water in the pumping pit: no cost;
• Pool piping repairs or replacement: $70,458;
• Paint children’s play feature: $5,000;
• Perform structural assessment of pool shell: $8,500 (additional repair costs may be required based on the results of this test);
• Swimming pool resurfacing: $155,143;
• Install two ADA-compliant lifts: $17,000;
• Replace all suction outlet/ main drain gratings in pool (seven in total): $17,500;
• Install safety vacuum release system (SVRS) on main recirculation system and feature suction outlet system: $10,000.
• TOTAL: $578,351.
The consultants wrote that the pool shell is concrete with a Diamond Brite plaster finish, which does not last well in seasonal pools that are drained in the winter. Inspecters noted the plaster is “in poor condition with significant cracking, movement and unevenness throughout the entire pool.”
“The prevalence and types of cracks observed lead us to believe that during the initial construction… the concrete was not given given the proper time to cure before installation of the surface,” the report notes. “These are more than mere cracks in the surface but could be caused by the structural movement of the pool shell that is most likely exacerbated by the freeze/thaw climate cycle. Structural failure will continue until the issue is addressed.”
The report says this may have allowed water to penetrate the concrete and embedded rebar, weakening the pool structure.
Moving forward
At their Dec. 20 meeting, city council members discussed the results of the report and pondered their next moves.
“I think (the report) helps identify what we need moving forward,” Davis told the council, “and the data and information we need to have conversations with other funding entities, whether that’s Colorado Health Foundation, Great Outdoors Colorado, the Rawlings Foundation… all of those entities have expressed interest in it with conversations about the cost for remediation.”
The ill effects of long-deferred maintenance has plagued much of the city’s infrastructure, and the Wild Waters facility is no different.
“I think the key is, we have to maintain it if we do fix it,” Councilmember Nick Vigil said. There is no walking away at the end of the season.”
Councilmember Veronica Maes conjectured whther it might not be more beneficial to start over, this time building an indoor facility which might be of greater benefit to young and old community members alike.
“Is it worth investing this kind of money in this pool?” Maes said. “Would it be a better use of this funding to knock it down and build something better?”
“I’ve always said we need something indoor and year-round, that can be used to serve our full population; not just our children but our senior population as well.”
Davis reminded the board that the pool originally was “substantially constructed utilizing grant funding” and said the original grants need to be reviewed for language regarding maintenance of the existing pool over its lifespan. She conjectured that these grant funders “would be very disappointed with what’s happened.”
