Pool plan: City presents option for indoor pool at Frank Olson, outdoor at Kuehn

City officials and designers working on two Sioux Falls pool replacements are recommending that an indoor facility be built at Frank Olson Park and an outdoor pool be built to replace the one at Kuehn Park, with a future phase that could add indoor recreation.

The plans were shown at two neighborhood meetings last week, following months of input from in-person and online opportunities for feedback.

“We’re working through the concepts and gathering more feedback,” said Mike Patten, parks planning and project manager. “This was the first stab at it.”

The concept for Frank Olson, which is at 4001 E. 16th St., will involve creating a master plan for the park in the coming months that includes outdoor enhancements to the park in addition to what likely will be proposed as a two-story indoor recreation facility that includes aquatics.

Public input involved the need for a more walkable, connected park, with additional parking and playgrounds, along with continued room for sledding, Patten said.

“Maintaining that open space the park has was important,” he said. “The idea of indoor recreation space really resonated. A running/walking loop inside, gymnasium space, health and wellness space, lifting weights, that kind of stuff was a big piece of the building, as well as aquatics.”

The public ranked warm-water recreation — which is used for play and therapy — ahead of cool water used for working out, though the concept plan shows options both for lap swimming and play.

Proposed features from Williams Architects/Aquatics, an Illinois-based firm helping put the plan together, include a lazy river, which is “super popular because they’re fun for kids to play in, but they’re also used for fitness,” Patten said, along with water play structures and water slides.

An upper level would house a track for walking and running, and the main floor could include an indoor playground, gym space, room for events and gatherings, and potentially a presence for Siouxland Libraries.

“What we’re showing is probably pretty realistic to what we’re going to build if everything’s a go,” Patten said.

At Kuehn Park, while feedback still appeared to favor an indoor replacement for the pool, there also were many comments “where people wanted to maintain as much open space as possible, and it was way closer to outdoor at Kuehn than at Frank,” he continued. “So when we looked through budget, we felt like we want the ability to do indoor (recreation) at some point in the future, but with this bond, it’s probably realistic Kuehn will be outdoors.”

An outdoor pool “fits really well on the northeast corner of the park,” Patten said, adding the concept calls for adding an entrance and exit off Valley View Road. As of now, the park is accessible only from 41st Street.

The concept for the pool itself, which is being developed by Stockwell Engineers, would double the capacity for outdoor aquatics that’s currently at Kuehn.

It would have a large zero-depth area “consistent with what you see at Terrace or Laurel Oak … with more active zones and above-ground spray features,” said David Locke, a landscape architect at Stockwell, which is helping put the plan together for Kuehn.

“And you have areas that are more passive as an introduction to water for little kids and still incorporating wide decks.”

There are a number of shade structures, including some shaded water, and a proposed lazy river would be the longest in the park system.

Two slides are included in the plan, as well as an eight-lane fitness pool, with additional options for diving and a climbing wall.

“It’ll be a great improvement to the park in that area of town,” Locke said.

There would be enough space on the site for a future indoor recreation facility that could include a walking track, gym space and playground similar to the elements being proposed at Frank Olson.

Recommended outdoor improvement reflect public input and include maintaining an area for sledding, rebuilding popular softball fields and adding pickleball courts, as well as a “Ninja Warrior course for a unique play amenity,” Locke said.

It’s not clear yet if improvements like that could be funded along with the pool at this point or if they would be budgeted at a later time.

The plan is to present an update to the Sioux Falls City Council next week, finalize plans for Frank Olson and Kuehn in the next two months and prepare for a City Council vote on funding the improvements in May.

In the meantime, design is moving ahead on a replacement wading pool at McKennan Park, which already is funded in the city’s budget and scheduled to start construction later this year.

The city and Stockwell Engineers shared an updated plan with the neighborhood in late January that addressed some concerns about future opportunities to add a refrigerated ice rink.

The pool itself is a replacement for the aging wading pool. It’s shown with two slides, including one designed for families, spray features, seating, shade and green space.

“We made some changes and tweaks based on discussions with the neighborhood, and everyone really liked what we presented, and they’re happy to see it happen,” Locke said.

Assuming construction stays on schedule, the new pool would be ready sometime in the summer of 2025.

Longer term, the city will continue to explore options for an outdoor pool in south Sioux Falls, following a neighborhood meeting earlier this year to address a potential site near 85th Street and Cliff Avenue. Nothing for that pool would be included in the city’s funding this spring.

“Our priority was replacements at Kuehn and Frank Olson first,” Patten said. “We just learned our first batch of feedback, and now David and his team have to go back and organize how those elements might fit. Our goal is to plan a long-term vision of how it could happen.”

An initial concept could be brought forward this summer, he said.

Updates and continued opportunities for input on the pool planning processes can be found here.