Evanston parks officials present $25–29 million aquatic center plan, urge countywide penny tax in November

Evanston Parks and Recreation District Director Kim Larson told the Uinta County School District #1 Board of Trustees that the district’s 40-year-old pool is “at the end of its useful life” and that renovating the existing facility would not meet community needs. Larson asked the board to support the parks’ plan to build a new aquatics complex adjacent to the current recreation center and to back a countywide temporary specific-purpose sales tax on the November ballot to finance the project.

The proposal would put a competition lap pool and a recreational pool next to the rec center and repurpose the old pool into gym or gymnastics space. “We have a 99 page report saying that our pool is at the end of its useful life,” Larson said, and described health and mechanical problems that make renovation impractical.

Larson presented multiple cost figures from the feasibility work and subsequent design concepts. She cited an estimated construction cost for a new facility of about $25,000,922 and said converting the old pool for gym space would be roughly…