The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
$8M pool complex splash pad to be free to all
MIDDLETOWN — With just more than three months remaining until a planned mid-June opening, the $7.8 million Veterans Memorial Pool rebuild will transform the circa-1958 facility into a state-of-the-art swimming complex to rival that of other similarly sized municipalities.
The pool will be some 50 percent to 75 percent larger than the original at the 64-year-old aquatic facility on Walnut Grove Road, according to Public Works Director Chris Holden. It will include a splash pad, walking resistance area and more.
Preliminary plans were announced in October 2020. Costs associated with updating the facility rose about 200 percent since the original estimate — from $2.6 million to nearly $8 million.
Officials have said the increase was due partly to pandemic-related issues as well as the project’s shift from renovations to a nearly full rebuild. The feasibility study conducted in 2015 called only for a remodeling of the facility.
It originally was scheduled to open in time for the 2022 summer season.
Recent expenditures include the addition of a building, which will be used for storage and contain a break area out of the sun for lifeguards, Holden said.
There were two change orders recently, including for a surge tank required by the health department to maintain the water levels, which cost $48,000, he explained, as well as two water heaters instead of one, which added $15,800 to the bottom line.
Instead of working on the fire alarm and security system in-house, that portion now is being overseen by a subcontractor at a cost of $58,800, Holden said. “They were able to coordinate all the wiring and everything that needed to happen without another step of the city slowing it down,” he noted.
Initial specifications didn’t include a larger
pool with two additional lanes, plumbing, splash pad, utilities relocation as well as other features, all of which upped the price, Holden said last fall when local officials gathered at the site for a ceremonial groundbreaking.
Veterans Memorial Pool was dedicated in memory of Dionigi Arrigoni, who, with his brother, Frank, owned the former Hotel Arrigoni, now The Buttonwood Tree on Main Street.
At the time, Middletown veterans wanted city children to have a place to gather and cool off during summer, as they have done for generations.
The complex will contain a six-lane competitive pool, zero-entry walk-in, and a five-foot resistance walking wall for people to exercise against the current.
“It’s all continuous water between all these features,” Holden pointed out.
“We are so, so excited,” Middletown Recreation & Community Services Director Cathy Lechowicz said. “It is going to be an incredible facility for our community, and it’s great seeing it happen in real time.”
There were a number of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic that delayed the pool project, she added, acknowledging that both the city and community may have experienced frustration. “There was always going to be a su mmer that we were going to miss,” because of the scope of the project, Lechowicz noted.
“It’s almost two pools in one, in the sense that there is an area for lap swimming, which is the more traditional pool setup,” the recreation director explained. A walkway will allow swimmers access
from the pool to other areas, she added.
The zero-degree entry eliminates the need for stairs to enter the pool. There won’t be a distinct area designated for babies and toddlers as there has been in the past. Instead, young ones can swim ina foot-and-a-half of water, Lechowicz explained. More filtration has also been put in to accommodate younger patrons, she noted.
Because of construction, skating at Veterans Park was unavailable this winter season.
When Lechowicz’s children were younger, her husband would drive the kids to various splash pads during the summer. That was before Cromwell installed its pad, which is “simpler” compared to what Middletown will have, she said.
“This will have a little bit more bells and whistles to it,” Lechowicz explained. “It’s going to be a beautiful space,” she said, where families can have free access to the cool water.
Som e co mmunities incorporate their splash pads into the pool area and charge to use both, the recreation director noted, but, at Veterans Pool, there will only be a fee for using the pool section.
“It will feel part of one facility, but you’ll have to check in for the pool,” she said.
A related, longer-term project will provide better access to the park from the North End for walkers and cyclists via a multiuse trail that eventually will connect to Newfield Street / Route 3, but completion is a couple of years off, Lechowicz said.
“Making sure the park is very accessible to our community is really important to us,” she said.
For information, visit the Middletown CT Rec Facebook page.