An example of what the fiberglass slides could look like in the “plunge pool.” The slide platform would be a little over 23 feet high.
The City of Dallas has $33 million from the sale of park land to spend on rebuilding six public pools in Dallas.
A few years ago, that was enough to build a “family aquatics center” to include a lap pool, a kiddie pool, a slide pool, a new bathhouse and a filtration building at Kidd Springs Park, plus new complexes at five other Dallas parks.
But construction costs have risen so much that the cost estimate for all that now comes in at more like $44 million. The longer it takes to build, the more construction will cost, depending on how the construction market goes. The city could include the additional funding needed in the November bond election.
Plans for the $6 million three-pool complex at Kidd Springs are moving ahead despite the shortfall. Construction could begin as soon as close of season 2018, and it would reopen in May 2019.
Here are the details we received at an update from City Hall Thursday.
The bath house and filtration building would comprise 4,500 square feet with changing rooms for women, men and families as well as a ticket booth, break room for employees and a concession stand. The architects who designed it also designed an expansion of the Kidd Springs recreation center, and they took cues from the design of that building.
The six-lane lap pool would extend 25 yards.
A kiddie pool would include spray features and mini slides.
The footprint of the aquatics center will be a little bigger than the current one, but the city plans to retail all of the surrounding trees.
