City announces next steps for 2 neighborhood pool replacements

Neighbors will have a chance to weigh in next month as plans are put together to replace two aging Sioux Falls swimming pools.

The city will hold community engagement sessions for its Kuehn Park and Frank Olson Park master plans. They will build off the thousands of comments received through the initial input process.

“Sioux Falls loves pools. We swim at a higher rate than our comparable communities,” said Mike Patten, parks planning and project manager.

Even though the city has double the outdoor pools than what’s typically found in a community this size, “we still have high attendance at all our existing facilities. Overcrowding comments are regularly noted,” he said.

Initial feedback included a desire for more indoor recreation space in addition to more shaded areas outdoors, but the concepts will need to be refined from here, Patten said.

“We’re trying to build on the information we learned in this process and get deeper into design going forward,” he said.

“This is your aquatics bond, Sioux Falls, and we really need you, the users of these facilities, to be the key stakeholders in the design.”

The meetings will be:

Kuehn Park: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at Prairie West Branch Library, 7630 W. 26th St. There will be a presentation, interactive surveys and open discussion.

Frank Olson Park: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov.  8 and 7 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 9, at The Social, 301 S. Thompson Ave. The process will be a two-day charrette, which is an inclusive design process utilizing ideas from the community.

Both pools are aging, in addition to the McKennan Park wading pool, and all are scheduled for replacements.

In June, the city awarded Stockwell Engineers a contract to complete a master plan for Kuehn Park, and Williams Architects was awarded a contract for the Frank Olson Park master plan.

The design firms will be at the meetings to answer questions and collect feedback. Attendees are encouraged to bring ideas and cellphones to participate in the process.

Multiple firms were chosen to support the pool design and construction because “these are big efforts,” Patten said. “We also felt there’s opportunities to be learned from different ideas and different organizations, and ultimately we can cross-use those ideas.”

The city hasn’t made a recommendation for which pools will be replaced with outdoor versions or if there could be an indoor facility that would include additional options for indoor fitness, meeting space or community activities.

According to national benchmarks, the city is underserved by indoor swimming options, Patten said.

“People like to swim in the winter, but they also like to work out and run and do art classes and everything else that can happen inside a rec center,” he said.

The hope is to adopt master plans for the parks next year, potentially in the spring. From there, design will start, but the scope of the projects will drive timelines for construction.

“Whether or not we go indoor, whether or not we go outdoor, that will kind of determine when we break ground on these facilities,” Patten said.

The plan is to stagger them to minimize disruption to the swim season, but ultimately the hope is to start construction in the next couple of years, he said.

Additional opportunities will be available to give input as the process moves forward, he added.

The city’s aquatics planning also includes looking at land options for a south-side pool, Patten said.

“The process for that probably won’t start until early next year,” he said.

The City Council will vote on the aquatics bond, and it will be paid back with existing sales tax revenue. The overall amount of the bond hasn’t been determined, Patten said.

“It’s been a wild ride as far as estimating construction cost and inflation,” he said. “That’s all to be determined yet.”