“What we’re intending through this design is five separate bodies of water that are all independently mechanically functional and heated and chemically treated ... so any shutdown or mechanical issue or anything in one facility does not affect all of them,” Ryan Davis, the city’s parks and recreation director said during Miamisburg City Council’s most recent meeting. “They can all kind of operate independently. It actually gives us a lot of flexibility, both from an operational perspective and from that mechanical perspective as well.”
The five bodies of water are:
- an eight-lane, 25-yard competition lap pool;
- a three-lane, 42-foot-long exercise/teaching pool with vortex area;
- a fenced-in kiddie pool with zero-depth entry, one-foot depth at its deepest point, plus splash features and tot slides;
- a recreational pool with zero-depth entry, play features like climbable floats, and a semi-enclosed in-water basketball and volleyball area;
- a splash pad that was installed in 2023, which remains a key feature of the facility.
The project also is set to include a new 22-foot-tall slide tower with three body slides: a fully enclosed slide, open-flume slide, and a plunge slide.
The aquatic center revamp also will feature more seating, shade and improved accessibility, Davis said. Also planned are an expansion of the mechanical room to account for the pumps needed to run the facility and a redesign and expansion of the concessions to serve both the park and the pool.
“This is a big project with big impact on the community, with a lot of work and a lot of time spent on this process,” Davis said.
City council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize the city to bid the project. The bid is expected to be released Jan. 21, with submissions due by Feb. 19, he said.
A timeline for completion is uncertain, pending bid reviews, but the goal is to start construction in March, with a 2026 opening that will be dependent on construction timelines, costs and supply chain.
Miamisburg has had a public pool since the 1930s as part of a Depression-era Works Progress Administration project.
“This is something that’s been part of our legacy, part of our history here in the community, and so that’s ... a part of why it’s so important that we continue to reinvest in this amenity,” he said. “When that facility was constructed, it was kind of state-of-the-art back at that time, and it’s really served us well.”
Sycamore Trails Aquatic Center was constructed in the early 1990s and opened to the public in 1996.
Miamisburg announced in November 2023 that it canceled the 2024 swimming season at Sycamore Trails Aquatic Center due to issues with the piping infrastructure, which has critically failed over the last few years.
The redesign of the facility is a result of “years of effort, public input, review and analysis of the existing facility,” Davis said.
Contractors spent about six months investigating the cause of water loss in the fall of 2023. “Significant leaks and failing glue joints were discovered at many of the joints that make up the piping network that circulates water in the pool,” Davis said.
The project is comprised of many elements that will provide “a new, improved and feedback-focused facility,” with design elements reflecting the input received from residents who participated in the survey and focus group process, he said.
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