With 386 surveys collected from the public and multiple focus group sessions held, Knit Studios put together possible designs for a new aquatics center in the City of Winnemucca and presented them to the Winnemucca City Council at their most recent meeting on Nov. 21 (with Mayor Rich Stone, Councilman Mike Owens, and City Attorney Kent Maher absent from the meeting).
Knit’s presentation of the possible designs encapsulated many different elements that were specifically mentioned by the public and Knit plans to continue to refine the designs as the City continues to search for possible funding sources in order to construct a new municipal pool.
Competition Pool Concept
The City has been searching for ways to construct a new city-owned pool that would better meet the needs of the community since the decline of the Bode Howard Memorial Pool began many years ago, but the construction of a new aquatics center will cost millions, according to City officials.
The design process is being funded by American Rescue Plan Act funds that were allocated to general government services, freeing up enough money for capital improvement projects, including the conceptual design plans for a new pool.
Leisure Pool Concept B
Avenues for funding the actual construction of a new center are currently being pursued but have not been secured yet, including a third and final proposal on the local ballot to create a recreation tax that would pay for the pool (which has been turned down twice already), according to Knit and City officials.
Knit Senior Architect and Project Manager Victoria Cousino told the Council the Knit is very pleased with the amount of surveys that were collected and the amount of people that showed up to the in-person focus groups based on the size of the community.
Leisure Pool Concept A
Based on the surveys and group data, 75 percent of people (291 of the people who participated in the survey) favored a design with two pools—one a lap pool for competition-style swimming and another warm water pool for recreation and family activities. Of the 386 people that were surveyed, 310 of them mentioned wanting to utilize the pool for family activities.
“We had a really high turnout of families both on the survey and in our focus groups, so not surprising to see that [family oriented activities] was a big request. They’d like to see more family programming in the center, followed again by lap swimming, swim lessons, water aerobics, physical therapy, swim meets, and then the swim with friends and teammates,” explained Cousino.
Combined Pool Concept
It was also found that a depth of 3.5 to five feet would be the most ideal depth for most people and that a temperature of 78 to 82 degrees would accommodate the largest number of people.
Knit also found that most of those surveyed, 59 percent or 226 people, would be in favor of a property tax increase in order to cover the cost of a new municipal pool (with property tax going to the City of Winnemucca) and 58 percent or 223 people, were in favor of a sales tax increase to cover the cost (with sales tax going to Humboldt County).
“We all know, especially the City Council, there has been proposed tax increases in the past to potentially cover the cost of a new facility. We wanted to just revisit that with the community and get a feel of how receptive people were to the potential tax increase…and so the good news for us is that we’re seeing generally approval of that potential tax increase,” said Counsino.
Other comments gathered included improvements the community would like to see in a new facility including a pool that is more accessible to everyone, including children, teens, adults and seniors, that follows Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations, a more user-friendly locker room set up, room for spectators and a competition pool that meets swim meet standards, and more areas and features for families.
Cousino explained that the ability to include certain features and design concepts will be dependent on mechanical aspects of the pool as well which will also influence the cost for construction.
City Manager Alicia Heiser explained that the two pool and combined pool options “are tracking very close [in price] for the initial construction of it, but that doesn’t include the ongoing maintenance of two separate mechanical systems,” which could influence a future final design choice by the Council.
Councilwoman Ashley Maden also explained that the City plans to keep the current pool operational as long as possible for the community, hopefully until the construction of a new facility is complete.
Knit is anticipating presenting their final design concept to the Council at the end of February, according to Cousino, after gathering more feedback from the community in January during an additional public meeting.
“We have input from the community on the preferred pool types, we have input on the kind of aesthetic and the look of the building, so we’re running full steam ahead into design getting some conceptual imagery together to present it back to City Council to the community,” explained Cousino.