The town of Outlook’s new swimming pool facility seems to be coming together nicely, and as long as the weather cooperates and all the right pieces fall into all the right places, there is positivity in the air that the pool is on track to be open to the public by Canada Day on July 1, 2018.
This past Monday morning, December 18, The Outlook visited the pool site and was given a tour of the location by Rick Pederson, who works as project manager on behalf of the town. The work has reached a stage where the overall image of the future facility is taking serious shape, including the panels and features of the main pool area, kiddie pool, and vortex pool, as well as the construction of the mechanical building, which will be equipped with plenty of power at 400 amp service (up from the originally-intended 200). That being said, the location will be energy-efficient and water conservation-friendly, and Pederson also described where the spacious 30 X 60 change rooms will being going, located along the north side of the facility, and there will also be a diving board and water slide.
Rick also noted one mechanical feature among the entire pool area that he thought was a big positive in giving access to the inner workings of the facility.
“The nice part is that all this piping is accessible,” he said, pointing between features that show walkway accessibility. “This is actually a little tunnel that goes all the way around the pool. If you have problems, you can go in and access all the piping.”
Pederson said the overall work on the facility has been going good, and cites Western Recreation as being a good firm to do business with.
“It’s been going good, absolutely,” said Rick. “Western Rec has been good to work with, and not too many bumps in the road. Things have gone pretty good, for the most part. It’s looking pretty much as presented by Western Rec as far as construction.”
It’s been a long and winding road for this new aquatic facility, of which the idea traces back to late 2013 when the fundraising committee was formed. Stemming from the loss of the original pool in the Outlook Regional Park, the group of volunteers dedicated themselves to doing their homework and raising funds for a new pool that could be enjoyed for generations. Part of the homework included visiting the community of Foam Lake in July 2014 to check out the town’s recently-finished pool facility, which was where they came into contact with Western Recreation, who would eventually be hired as the builders of Outlook’s new pool.
Through it all, the fundraising went on and on and on; a live auction event in May 2015, as well as town and community door-to-door blitzes, numerous BBQ fundraisers, yard sales, and initiatives brought forward by local businesses and organizations in support of the venture.
Though the success of the committee’s grassroots fundraising efforts has been key and instrumental to the project, it was the landmark $500,000 donation by area producer Cor Van Raay in the summer of 2016 that pushed the project over the top and acquired the support of Outlook’s town council at the time, who gave the project the proverbial green light and seal of approval to move forward.
Flash forward to today, and while not all of the funds have been raised, there is a collective sigh of relief that the project has reached the stage that it has since construction began back in July.
As far as the budget goes, the 6400-square foot project seems to also be on track with its finances, but Pederson noted that one question mark may be the construction of the change rooms, which he said will be a particularly expensive job.
Keeping a level head about the whole project as it relates to the immediate future, Pederson says the pool will be a gorgeous location when all is said and done, hyping the additional features it’ll have, but he also knows there is still a lot left to do before there is any splish-splashing by any local swimmers next summer.
“Davidson built a new pool last year, but our pool is a little bit bigger than theirs,” he said. “We have a lot more water features, not only the slide and vortex, but there are features like a spray water area too. It’s going to be a beautiful pool, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s still a lot of work to do yet.”
Right now, work on the facility is on something of a break for the winter, and Western Recreation is expected to return in the spring to pick up where they left off. In the meantime, the pool fundraising committee is hopeful that the public and the business community will continue to support the project through the season, as it’s estimated that the pool requires another $400,000 to $500,000 to be fully paid off.
