Proposed Kuehn pool would have the most amenities of any in the city

Diving boards, climbing walls, basketball hoops, a leisure river and a tube slide.

That’s just the start of what’s being proposed for the new outdoor pool to replace the aging one at Kuehn Park.

“I think we go from two or three amenities to about 17,” director of parks and recreation Don Kearney said. “I can tell you that west-side residents are super excited about the replacement facility. They really liked everything about it.”

The plan is the result of multiple opportunities for input and months of review to incorporate elements the public wanted, said David Locke, a landscape architect with Stockwell Engineers, who helped design the concept.

“I think people are going to love it,” he said. “With Kuehn, there was a lot of desire and nostalgia for it to still be an outdoor facility. And considering there are a lot of day cares in the area that can utilize the facility and it’s adjacent to a school, a walking neighborhood, there’s a lot of positives working for an outdoor facility.”

Here’s a closer look:

The concept would more than double the pool’s capacity, from 290 visitors to more than 700.

“I know it’s going to be our most popular outdoor aquatic center once it’s built,” said Mike Patten, the city’s parks planning and project manager. “It’ll be fantastic.”

There are three separate areas of water, beginning with a pool for fitness laps that includes diving boards, climbing walls and basketball hoops.

A leisure river pool includes a tube slide.

And an activities pool that starts at zero depth and goes to 2 feet will have “a lot more kid-centered amenities, a lot of spray features and a water play structure,” Pattten said.

Throughout the entire pool area, there are much-requested shade structures.

“We even have a spot where there’s shade over top of the water too,” Patten said.

Residents were shown the final recommended plan Wednesday night, though there really weren’t changes from the last version presented, Kearney said.

“We’re going to put kind of a bow on the final master plan for the area and get that in front of the City Council for their consideration,” he said.

Take a look at how the old pool would compare with the new one:

The estimated Kuehn pool replacement is $18 million in a broader bond of up to $77 million to fund an indoor recreation center and pool at Frank Olson Park and to purchase the west-side Sanford Wellness Center. It’s expected to be voted on by the City Council in May.

The broader plan for Kuehn Park also shows the possibility of additional improvements. Two ballfields will be rebuilt to replace the ones that are there, and future upgrades could include pickleball courts and a “Ninja Warrior”-style obstacle course. There’s no timeline set for those.

In expanding parking for the pool, though, there also will be a new driveway that will support pickup and drop-off at the adjacent Oscar Howe Elementary.

“There was a lot of excitement about our proposed traffic improvements in that area,” Kearney said. “The neighborhood is super excited about alleviating congestion at pickup and drop-off.”

Because the location of the pool is changing, the existing Kuehn pool will remain open until the new one is built. The plan is to start a yearlong design process later this year if the City Council approves funding in May, then begin construction in the fall of 2025 and open for the 2027 swim season.