New City Pools Moving Forward

From: City of Evansville, Mayors Office Two New City Pools Moving Forward (EVANSVILLE, IN) – The Evansville Board of Park Commissioners will vote, at its regular board meeting tomorrow at 12:00 noon, on final approval of a contract for the design and engineering of two new City pools. Evansville’s Hafer Associates will have overall design responsibility and coordinate construction for the two pools. Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. and Counsilman-Hunsaker and Associates, Inc. will serve as aquatic consultants to Hafer. Kimley-Horn and Counsilman-Hunsaker worked with the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Mayor’s Aquatics Task Force to develop a conceptual design for Evansville’s future pool system. Counsilman-Hunsaker also completed the audit of Evansville’s neighborhood pools in 1999. The two new pools will be designed simultaneously- one in the south sector and one in the west sector. The south and west sectors will be built first because Tepe and Howell Pools are closed. The facilities will be the same, but the site configuration will depend on the location of each pool. The Mayor’s Aquatics Task Force has recommended Bellemeade and Tepe Parks and Stanley Hall as possible locations for the new pool in the south sector. For the West sector, the Task Force recommended Howell, Helfrich, or Golfmoor Parks. “We want to get these pools up and running as soon as possible so people in the neighborhoods surrounding Tepe and Howell Pools have a facility where they can swim and get some exercise,” said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “I’m confident the firms we’ve selected have the expertise to design two great pools so construction can move forward.” The target date to award a construction contract is June 2008, with the opening date for the two pools projected for Memorial Day 2009. The construction budget for both pools is $5.8 million. Last night, City Council heard the first reading of a Finance Ordinance which includes money for the design and engineering contract. Council is being asked to repeal and re-appropriate $218,420 from Parks Administration Riverboat Funds, and $287,580 was previously transferred within the Parks Department budget, for a total of $506,000 Hafer Associates designed the new pool at the Evansville Country Club and many familiar facilities throughout our area including: the USI Rice Library, Deaconess Gateway Hospital, Vectren’s new headquarters, the new American Red Cross building, and Swonder Ice Arena just to name a few. Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. has completed extensive work in parks and recreational facility design across the nation. They consult on design planning and landscape architecture. The company is based in Dallas. Counsilman-Hunsaker was founded by world-famous swimming coach from Indiana University, “Doc” Counsilman, and one of his former athletes, Joe Hunsaker. The firm has completed more than 500 aquatic projects over the past 36 years. Counsilman-Hunsaker is based in St. Louis.