Pouring Through The Details
How to create an award-winning outdoor aquatic center
By Casey Wooddell
Photos: City of Oxford
On June 15, 2019, the gates opened to a new, outdoor aquatic center in Oxford, Ohio. The city had been discussing, studying, planning, and preparing for it since 2005. It was a rather slow process, but about eight years of that time was due to the recession that began in 2008. Those years were valuable though. They gave the city and community more time to reflect on how to provide the perfect facility for the city and surrounding areas. They provided time to update the design, re-evaluate the budget, and visit other facilities. The final product was an award-winning outdoor facility—featured throughout the region in various outlets—and was published in a national magazine. The facility was large enough to serve a variety of cities in multiple states, yet small enough to be a “community pool.”
So how did we get there? The process was kick-started with the completion of a feasibility study in 2006. I highly recommend this! Don’t expect total accuracy, but do except excellent information and professional recommendations. Our study was overflowing with valuable information, including a demographic analysis of the community (always beneficial in the parks and rec world), potential facility locations, anticipated operational costs and revenues, design options and images, and comparisons of similar facilities.
Feasibility Study … Check! Now What?
Visit other aquatic centers. Talk with professionals about what works and what doesn’t. Learn from their mistakes and triumphs. I was incredibly impressed by the willingness of others to walk me through their projects and provide whatever information they could think of in order to help me. It’s probably because someone else did it for them, and I’m sure someone will do it for you also. Make sure to visit on days of full operation to observe the facilities in action!
Tweak the design to suit the community. A feasibility study will provide excellent design ideas, but it may not be perfect. Think about lifeguards and operational costs. How many lifeguards will be required? What if you make this change or that change? What if you move the lazy river here, or add a diving board there? Every change has a direct impact in some way; review those for operational efficiency. Ask others to review the study. If you can provide the same number of amenities, but safely do so with one less lifeguard on every shift due to a simple design change, think of the cost savings over the course of a season, five seasons, or 10 seasons. Balance safety, customer service, and efficiency, and create the best for the community. Our original design included a long, stand-alone lazy river, which would have required at least two or three lifeguards to monitor it. We re-designed the river to be attached to the main activity pool, with a center island, requiring only one lifeguard. Not only is it more customer-friendly—especially for families supervising multiple children—but it’s more efficient. Another simple design change that might have maximized efficiency was incorporating the admissions gate with the concession operations. Front-end staff and concession staff members are fully interchangeable if trained appropriately. Why separate them into their own locations when combining them increases flexibility and maximizes efficiency? It would also reduce equipment costs and maximize square footage. It ultimately could reduce the size of the building by utilizing shared space. Consider this as an option for your facility.
The size of the pump room matters! This is a quick transition from customer service, but it’s an important one. Think of it as customer service for you and your staff members. Don’t cut corners here. Staff will be in there every day, multiple times per day. Design it as service-friendly, maintenance-friendly, and expansion-friendly space. I won’t recommend which type of system to use for disinfection because I’m no expert on that issue, and I know many factors come into play, such as location, climate, facility size, etc. One thing we did was have plumbing installed for future UV-disinfection (it’s always a good idea to think ahead). What I absolutely urge for any new facility not to do is have what I call “the pit” in the pump room. Have real steps (not a metal ladder) to access the pumps. Have adequate space to work around them because eventually they’ll need maintenance and replacement. Even yearly winterizing requires adequate work space. If this means a larger building, go with it. It will be safer for employees and more efficient for maintenance. Stress this to the design consultant.
Invest in a sound system. It’s an essential tool and will be used daily. Install a system with well-balanced sound throughout the facility. The system provides a perfect method for everything from informing a guest car lights have been left on, to searching for a child who has lost her parents, to asking guests to evacuate the pool due to a lightning strike. It’s also great for swim-meet announcers and fitness-class instructors. Our sound system has the ability to turn on/off certain sections of the facility so the competition pool can have an aerobics instructor teaching classes while the activity pool is playing music for guests.
Invest in portable guard chairs with wheels. These are fairly standard now, but the ability to move chairs—depending on how the sun hits the water—is critical. The reflection at noon is different than that at 6 p.m., and lifeguards can maximize their ability to see coverage zones by simply adjusting the location of their chairs.
Include revenue-generating spaces within the design. Our facility has an indoor conference room that serves as a summer-camp hub during the week and a party room on weekends. We also have an outdoor pavilion and a party island in the center of the lazy river. All of these spaces can be reserved for birthday parties or social gatherings to provide additional revenue streams. And don’t forget about private after-hours reservations. Nearly every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings are paid reservations for birthday parties, graduation parties, church groups, sports teams, etc.
Bonus: Install a family slide! If you don’t know what it is, ask your contractor, design company, or pool consultant, or just search it. A family slide is fun for all ages, can be enjoyed by multiple people at once, and serve many more people than a standard slide. You won’t regret this.
As you plan for building an outdoor aquatic facility, keep these recommendations in mind, but also take the time to talk to as many people as possible. Every professional will provide valuable insight, and every community and facility are different. The more information you gather, the better prepared you’ll be to provide the facility your community deserves, as well as to ensure the facility is fiscally sustainable and able to be maintained for decades. Good luck!
Casey D. Wooddell is the Director for the city of Oxford Parks and Recreation Department in Ohio. Reach him at (513) 523-6314, or cwooddell@cityofoxford.org.
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Project Overview
Constructed: 2018-2019
Opened: June 15, 2019
Type: Concrete bottom; stainless-steel sides and gutters
Decks: Mixture of concrete, artificial turf, and natural grass
Mechanical: High-rate sand, sulfuric acid, liquid chlorine; variable-frequency drives on all pumps; plumbed for future UV disinfection; natural-gas heaters
Amenities: Activity pool with play structure, family slide, open-flume slide, lazy river, and a basketball hoop; separate eight-lane, 25-meter competition pool with two diving boards and a basketball hoop
Cost: $4.5 million