MARY MEAUX
NEDERLAND — A group of vacationing ducks will have to move back home when work begins to repair Nederland’s city pool.
Earlier this week Nederland City Council awarded a contract to Progressive Commercial Aquatics Inc. of Houston for work on the aging pool, City Manager Chris Duque said.
Nederland Mayor Dick Nugent said city officials are excited to finally award a contract and begin the journey toward reopening the popular pool.
“We’re thinking ahead on this one,” Nugent said of repairs to the 35-year-old pool. “Underground work will be done that will allow for future attractions. We want to do something nice for the community and for the youth of Nederland.”
Last year city leaders established a Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to assist with the search and offer comments.
The winning bid, at $500,226, was several hundred thousand less than a first round of bids which were rejected.
After the first bids were scraped, council went back to the drawing board and designed a different bid structure, beginning with a base bid and ending with alternate plans.
“Each alternate has a greater level of recreational enhancement,” he said.
Duque said the work is scheduled to be completed by late May or early June.
The soon to be initiated work will bring the pool into compliance with all state and federal regulations, he said.
In order to come into compliance, the pool’s slide will be moved to the opposite side of the pool. The reason, Duque said, is that safety regulations require the slide to have six-foot of decking and the current area has less than a six-foot decking.
The kiddie pool, or wading pool, will be filed in with the possibility of adding a spray pad type of attraction. To accommodate tots, the pool will feature a beach-like entry/zero depth entry.
“This will meet with ADA requirements,” he said.
A splash feature will be created in the zero depth area with a larger such feature near the center.
“This is similar to what the city of Beaumont did with Magnolia Pool,” he said.
Duque said the fee structure will be updated. In previous years all patrons, whether Nederland residents or not, paid the same fee.
Since Nederland residents already pay taxes in the city, leaders are looking to non-Nederland residents to pay a larger fee, he said.
Pool parties will return to city pool with the Parks and Recreation Department stepping back in for scheduling. And while construction is underway, Parks and Recreation officials will begin their search for life guards and stock the concession stand. The director is also looking to bring back the swimming lesson program as well.
Repair cost to the pool will be shared between the city taking on 70 percent and the Nederland Economic Development Corporation taking on 30 percent, he said.
The pool is scheduled to open between May 26 and the first week of June.
“This (repairs) is a big step forward for the city ,” he said. “I don’t think any of us knew how out of compliance the pool was until we received the report this past summer.”
While skies may be dreary of late, sunny skies are in the future.
“We encourage people to plan to use our pool,” he said. “It might be 40 degrees today but it will be 100 degrees in a few months.”
mmeaux@panews.com
