What’s the future of Kennewick’s 70-year-old pool? Building new might be cheaper
Kennewick’s 70-year-old swimming pool is showing its age, and city leaders could choose to replace the aging structure in the coming years.
The Kenneth Serier Memorial Pool originally opened to swimmers in 1955. Since then, it’s had only one substantial renovation, in 1987, and is three decades past its useful lifespan.
The city began a feasibility study earlier this year to examine the future construction of a new recreation center.
Among its goals is to determine whether a replacement is necessary for Kenneth Serier and, if so, how much it might cost, where it should be located and what amenities it could offer.
Staff will provide an update to the city council about its recreation center feasibility study at the July 9 study session.
The community will likely get its first look at construction concepts and some costs, too. A new recreation leisure pool and replacement of the large pool could cost around $12 million, in one design.
The Kenneth Serier Memorial Pool at 315 W. 6th Ave. across from Kennewick High is normally open to swimmers June to September. But since opening on June 14, “maintenance issues” have hindered the public’s ability to enjoy its full offerings.
The facility as a whole was closed for a week for maintenance and is anticipated to reopen Saturday, July 6, in time for triple-digit heat.
Nick Farline, Kennewick’s parks, recreation and facilities director, said a “tremendous amount of maintenance” — including hundreds of staff hours — goes into setting up Kenneth Serier before swimmers even touch toe to water.
The facility’s aged condition means they run into more problems than they would with a newer facility. Renovations could become so costly and large in scale, too, that it would make more sense financially to build new rather than to prop up the existing building.
“It’s reached its lifespan where it would be better to build new rather than renovate the existing pool,” he told the Tri-City Herald.
“The shell, the pipes — a lot of the bones and infrastructure in that pool is, in some cases, from the 80s. And, in other cases, there is some infrastructure that goes back to when the pool was built,” Farline continued.
An incoming ‘failure point?’
City staff anticipate Kenneth Serier Memorial Pool may experience a “failure point” — a substantial systems failure that would force them to close for most or a whole season — sometime within the next three to five years.
Custom-fit pipes that run water, for example, could take months to replace if they broke down. The likelihood of a large failure point happening can be reduced with more frequent maintenance, though.
Issues with the pool have simmered for years, but Farline says he feels “very optimistic” about the renewed interest in the pool and the city’s direction moving forward.
“The city has been growing for a number of years and with that comes challenges to prioritizing the updating of facilities across the city. It’s not uncommon to have a municipal pool that becomes old and needs some investment,” he said.
“There certainly is a recognition among our city leadership that something needs to be done with the pool,” Farline continued.
Kenneth Serier is a Kennewick landmark, having served several generations of Tri-Citians for decades.
It’s also the city’s sole municipal pool, and serves as the most affordable water recreation facility for the city’s 85,000 residents.
It offers three separate tanks for swimmers: a primary, six-lane, 25-yard pool varying in depth 4-6 feet; a 13-feet diving tank; and a training tank that offers toddlers and children the opportunity to splash around in water 6 inches to 3.5 feet in depth.
Swim lessons stretch across the summer months. On average, more than 1,500 participants register across more than 200 opportunities. The Kennewick High School swim team utilizes the pool for training and hosts about four swim meets at Kenneth Serier after it closes for the season.
Farline says pools like Kenneth Serier are not drivers of substantial revenue, unlike large indoor water facilities.
Pasco earlier this year announced plans to buy a dome for the Memorial Aquatic Park to turn its lap pool into a year-round facility. The Franklin County city is also hoping to complete phase 1 of a large aquatics center in West Pasco by the end of next year.
Maintenance and community feedback
While Kenneth Serier operates a wide variety of programs for people of all ages and those with disabilities, Kennewick community members say they’re dissatisfied with the city’s current swimming facilities.
According to a recent American Community Survey highlighted in the Kennewick Parks and Recs master plan, 56% of residents said they were either “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the quality of aquatics facilities.
About 73% of those same respondents said they would be either “very supportive” or “somewhat supportive” of the city developing a new indoor facility. “Quality of swimming facilities” was also identified as a top-three priority for residents over the next five years.
The National Recreation and Parks Association recommends municipal governments offer one swimming pool for about every 43,000 residents. In Kennewick’s case, a whole second facility would be needed to meet the association’s recommendations.
While Kenneth Serier hasn’t seen a substantial face lift in decades, staff have been diligent to continue its maintenance and upkeep in recent years.
The city recently installed a new boiler and new chlorine system, Farline said. Before that, major work was done on the pool house, its roof and separation of the dive tank from the main pool.
Farline confirmed Kenneth Serier has experienced “significant” water leakage due to its poor integrity, but he didn’t provide any figures on how many gallons may be lost over a season.
Prior to opening this year, Kennewick hired a contractor to sand and reseal the entire pool to fix the problem.
“What we’ve noticed is there is a decrease — at least, initially — in the amount of water we’re putting into the pool (to replace lost water),” Farline said.
