Iowa City staff present near‑final City Park Pool design, warn budget could force redesign

City staff presented near‑final designs for the City Park Pool and told the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Commission the project is ready to go to public hearing but remains at risk of out‑of‑budget bids.

Julie, a city staff member leading the project, said, "We are kind of in our final days of design. The plan is for the public hearing to be set with the city council at the first meeting in February and then the public hearing to be held at the second meeting in February, with bids due then probably March 11th and awarded around April 1st, if all goes well."

The current base bid is about $18,500,000, Julie said; the team will submit several alternates so the city can add or remove items after bids arrive. Alternates include raised limestone planter beds, shade structures, pool heaters (one per pool), a climbing wall in the diving well (roughly $50,000), and the demolition of an adjacent brick park restroom. Julie said the bathhouse building will be all‑electric for ambient heat and shower water heating, in keeping with the city’s climate action goals.

Why it matters: the project replaces an aging facility and is already at a budget edge; if bids come in substantially higher the city could have to reduce the pool size, remove lap lanes or the leisure pool, or delay construction by a year.

Design and access details

The design is a three‑pool complex: a zero‑depth leisure pool with a play structure and multiple bubblers; a 50‑meter lap pool with six lanes and both an extended ramp and stairs with a transfer station for accessibility; and a separate diving well sized for two diving boards with room for a third in the future. "The idea being that during most of the open swim time, there would be at least 2 lap lanes reserved and open at all times," Julie said. The leisure pool is the likely priority for heating if the city purchases heaters.

Site impacts and trees

Staff said the project footprint will largely stay inside the existing fence line but will extend slightly to the east to allow construction laydown. That move required temporarily removing a small playground and will require boring a new water and sewer line from Park Road; Julie told the commission that line work added roughly $100,000 to the project and will require boring under mature trees. "With trees this age, we're probably gonna lose a few," Julie said, adding the design team is taking precautions but cannot guarantee no loss.

Operations and safety changes

The design separates the filter/mechanical house from the bathhouse so chemical storage and truck deliveries will occur outside the building; staff highlighted this as a safety and efficiency improvement over the current basement filter room. The bathhouse includes two single‑user restroom/shower rooms, enlarged staff areas and a central lifeguard shelter to keep lifeguards more visible.

Budget risk and next steps

Julie said the city will bid the project and then decide which alternates to accept. "We're probably just a little above where we'd like to be at this point. We've decided to go ahead and bid and see where we come in," she said. If final bids exceed the available budget by a large margin, the only practical way to reduce cost substantially would be to shrink the project footprint and pool sizes, which staff warned could delay the project by a year. Public hearings are planned to be placed on the City Council agenda on Feb. 4 and heard Feb. 18, followed by bidding with bids due March 11 and anticipated award around April 1 (the project team noted an anticipated March 18 award date would likely shift to April 1 because of spring break).

The commission asked about parking loss (staff said two spaces will be removed for mechanical access), entries and staffing logistics, artificial turf as a bid alternate, and whether pool heaters would meaningfully extend the season; Julie replied heaters could slightly extend programming but lifeguard availability usually controls season length.

Ending

Staff said they will proceed to public hearing and bidding while tracking the local construction bidding climate; if bids remain high, staff said the city retains the option to reopen the existing pool for one more season while it reconsiders scope. No formal council actions or contracts were approved during the commission meeting.