City identifies location for new south-side pool

The city of Sioux Falls is proposing that a new outdoor pool eventually be built in south Sioux Falls.

The proposed site announced by the city is on 5 acres of undeveloped land on the Harrisburg Freshman Academy campus southwest of 85th Street and Cliff Avenue.

The city was prompted to look at a future outdoor pool in the area after hearing about overcrowding issues from visitors to Laurel Oak Family Aquatic Center in southeast Sioux Falls and other city pools, said Don Kearney, director of parks and recreation.

He compares the proposed location to Laurel Oak, which is next to John Harris Elementary, because the school and pool can share parking. That would be the same situation if a pool were built next to the Harrisburg school because classes aren’t in session during swim season and both could benefit from shared parking, he said.

However, Kearney stressed that the city is not locked in on locating a pool there and hasn’t put together an option on the land or a purchase agreement at this point.

“We got to a point with the school district where we said, ‘If we were going to put one here, would you support that?’ And they said absolutely they’d be supportive, he said. “We have these partnerships with Brandon, Sioux Falls School District, probably 20 to 30 sites where we co-locate.”

In those cases, they’re mainly school-park partnerships, or in some cases former community centers.

“There are other options in that area, but at this point we’ve not pursued the other options at this time,” Kearney said, adding that the city’s priority is to finalize plans for pool replacements at Frank Olson and Kuehn parks.

To begin planning for the south side of town, though, there is a public meeting to share input that’s scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Harrisburg Freshman Academy, 601 E. 90th St..

Stockwell Engineers, which also is working on a master plan for Kuehn Park and the new wading pool at McKennan Park, will lead the session.

“What people can expect is they will have an opportunity to weigh in on types of amenities they would like to see in a new outdoor facility: water slides, lazy river, lap lanes, interactive fountains. We’ll have a menu of items they can choose from and rank their priorities as far as what they’d like to see, and it’ll give our designers something to go off of,” Kearney said. “And we’ll bring something back to them to show them what we’ve come up with.”

The city’s analysis of indoor recreation space shows that per capita, a new indoor facility at either Frank Olson or Kuehn would position the city at least 10 years into the future as far as indoor water for the community, Kearney said, so that’s not being explored as an option in south Sioux Falls.

No timeline has been set on when a pool in that area could be built, and nothing has been programmed yet in the city’s five-year plan, which also has to accommodate construction and equipment in all departments.

The city of Sioux Falls has offered to the city of Harrisburg to explore options for a joint swimming pool because Harrisburg also has made efforts to look at building one.

“We’ve offered that up to the mayor and said if you’d like to work on a project with us, we’d be open to it,” Kearney said. “If they decide they’re interested, obviously we’ll be willing to have that conversation with them.”

To learn more about the neighborhood meeting, click here.