Pool construction to be completed by February

The Carson Aquatic Facility was supposed to be done in September.

Delays mostly due to weather pushed the completion of the first phase of the project into November and pushed the $3.6 million price tag up by $160,000.

Phase II was expected to be finished by Jan. 31. But Parks and Recreation Director Steve Kastens now says the project will probably be finished by the first part of February.

"When I say go over, I mean by a week or two," Kastens said. "We're not anywhere near 128 days like before."

Phase I included enclosing the 50-meter pool, work on outside heating and air conditioning and the reconfiguration of the dressing rooms. Phase I of the project went beyond its original deadline by 128 days and was finished in late October.

Kastens said contractor American General Development hasn't gone past its allotted days to finish the project, but he said if it does the city may consider imposing a fine on the contractor.

Workers from American General Development are scrambling to finish a new 38-foot by 20-foot therapy pool. The south wall of the building for the therapy pool will be glass and will face the 25-yard pool.

The building around the 25-yard pool was demolished in November to create an outdoor pool with a water slide. The slide is 16 1/2- feet tall and 180 feet long.

"It's a bigger slide than most people expected," Kastens said. "We're hoping it will be an attraction for the kids."

New mechanical rooms for the pools are under construction as well.

Kastens said the outdoor pool and its new slide could be open by May 1. The pool is smaller and takes less energy to heat than its 50-meter, 500,000 gallon predecessor, which opened for Memorial Day.

The Aquatic Facility is one of the first major projects constructed with Question 18 money, a quarter-cent tax approved by voters.

While the project has gone over budget and past schedule, city leaders are hoping the facility, a one-of-a-kind in Northern Nevada, will draw competitive swimming meets from around the West and be an economic boon for the city.