Design modified

Two weeks after a contentious, emotional meeting about plans for Portland Water Park, a modified design has been approved.
Portland Park Board voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward with a new design that will allow for diving entries on both ends of the competition pool while keeping most of the facility at a 42-inch depth. Construction is slated for 2015, with the water park to open in 2016.
The modified plans call for a “hump-back” design in the 25-meter, competition area, with a section about 40 feet long in the middle at depth of 3 feet, 6 inches. The north end, where the starting blocks will be located, will be 6 feet deep, and the south end will be 4 feet deep to allow for diving entries during swim meets.
The original plans, which were presented at the board’s Nov. 11 meeting, called for a depth of 3 feet, 6 inches, at the south end, which would not have allowed for diving starts based on USA Swimming regulations.
The new plan also changed the location of the lily pad walk, and shifted a stairway water entrance from the east side between the kiddie pool and the lazy river to the south side between the recreational area and competition pool.
“By providing this waterway connecting and providing that stairway, we feel it’s a very fluid transition between the different zones of the pool,” said Cory Whitesell of HWC Engineering in presenting the design. “And we think it accomplishes the goals that we were asked to accomplish.”
Other areas of the facility, which includes zero-entry, a slide, an 8-foot-wide lazy river, lounge and sun bathing areas, restrooms and a concession stand, remain mostly unchanged. About 75 percent of the pool area will be 3 feet, 6 inches deep.
Because the modifications do not add significant water capacity, they are not expected to increase the cost of the estimated $3.3 million project.
Bidding is slated for early in 2015 with construction to begin in the spring. The park board and other city officials had initially hoped the new facility could be open sometime in 2015, but construction is likely to last throughout the summer and into the fall with the pool opening in 2016.
The new design was reached as park board members worked with HWC representatives after backing away from a different compromise idea at their Dec. 2 meeting.
The board had planned to vote at that meeting on a design that also would have made the depth at the shallow end of the lap pool 4 feet. That option was projected to increase the cost by about $268,000 for the added depth in the competition pool, added width in the recreational area and necessary additional restroom space because expanded water capacity.
But tensions were high at the meeting following a letter to the editor critical of the original design printed in that day’s edition of The Commercial Review, as well as text messages and comments made on social media. Park board members Rod Ashman, Donald Gillespie, Shauna Runkle, Kristi Betts and Holly Tonak then chose to postpone their decision.
On Tuesday, Gillespie apologized for allowing emotions to play a role at that meeting.
“As a public figure, I should accept your criticism and use it to build a better Portland,” he said. “That night was highly emotional, and emotions do not have any place in the decisions we make in building a new first-class pool for not only Portland, but Jay County.”
Gillespie noted that among the many goals for the new facility, the three most important were keeping as close to budget as possible, providing for the most recreational activities at a 42-inch depth as possible and allowing diving at both ends of the competition pool. He said the new design accomplishes those objectives.
Ashman, the board president, thanked those involved in the process for their hard work and commitment.
Portland Water Park will replace the current Portland Pool, which was built in 1960 and has had a variety of maintenance problems in recent years. Those include leaks that result in a loss of about 1 million gallons of water each summer.
Planning for the new facility began about two years ago, with Portland City Council agreeing in May to pay for 68.4 percent of the project with a cap of $2.25 million. Since then, the water park’s fundraising committee has raised more than $900,000 to cover the remaining cost.