City advised to level pool, build new water park

It will cost the city close to $4.6 million to repair and upgrade the aging Lake Worth Municipal Pool, a facility in desperate need of a major overhaul and modifications, according to an independent consultant’s report.

“Renovations and improvements to the existing ... facility would not be cost-effective nor serve the Lake Worth community,” Brian McCallister, an aquatic consultant the city hired to assess the facility and offer recommendations on how to fix it, wrote in his nine-page report.

Major repairs to the structure and filter system alone would cost $2.8 million and would not substantially increase the facility’s use or boost revenue, the report said.

S o me o f t h e maj o r i s s u e s include a stress fracture in the 50-meter pool; a leak in the wading pool; the bathhouse’s failing roof, poor lighting and exposed electrical outlets; the filter room’s roof, which is supported by 2-by4s and plywood; and pumps, piping and valves in poor condition.

City Manager Michael Bornstein called the report “pretty damning on the pool’s condition.”

McCallister recommended that the city demolish the structure and build a new water park with lap lanes, a second-floor patio bar/restaurant and 300 additional parking spaces.

“Use the same footprint with all the water features ... and possibly add new features such as a lazy river,” McCallister said in the study.

To do that would cost between $6 million and $7.3 million and would be a bet te r use of t he money, the report said.

McCallister has built, operated and maintained water parks for more than 30 years.

The city said the pool, which Lake Worth closed last week, has an annual attendance of about 10,000. A new water park would increase attendance substantially, the report said.

It costs the city about $300,000 annually to operate the pool. Revenues are around $66,000, the city said.

The water park would require additional staffing. Additionally, the new high-tech filters, controllers and water feature pump motors would need to be maintained seven days a week, the report showed.

Total operating budget is estimated at $595,800. Revenues would be $592,000.

“It’s a break-even operation,” McCallister wrote.

The additional features would increase potential in rentals, concession revenue and attendance, which would allow the operation to be self-supporting, the study said.

Last fall, concrete chunks the size of small sandwiches began falling from the pool’s pump room ceiling, nearly hitting a staffer.

In a separate incident, a 12-inch water line exploded, firing shrapnel dangerously close to another city employee.

“There’s no question the facility is unsafe,” Bornstein said.

City commissioners are scheduled to discuss the pool’s fate at next Tuesday’s meeting.

“I’m not opening the pool back up until the commission sees this report and they say, ‘Spend all this money or take another direction,’” Bornstein said. “I’m not putting employees back in there.”

Juan Ruiz, the city’s leisure services director, said the report, done during a two-week period, should give commissioners the information they need to make an educated policy decision.

“We’re prett y confident the report does that,” Ruiz said.