Parks staff outline big projects, event turnout and limits to year‑round pool programming

Parks staff gave commissioners a progress update on major capital projects and described limits on expanding pool programming year‑round at the Nov. 5 commission meeting.

Dave Butler, parks project manager, showed progress photos and schedules for multiple projects. He said painting at the Multi‑Gen Center (MGC) staff offices and classrooms is complete and the gym will finish later in the week. At Prospector Park, crews have trenched fields 2 and 3 and are installing new mainline and lateral irrigation lines. At Superstition Shadows Pool (SSP), the old fence has been removed, footings for large shade sails are being poured ("about 8 feet deep and about 3 feet across"), and the playground 2–5 area has been removed pending replacement; Butler said one final piece of playground equipment is delaying full completion but staff expect the pool area projects to wrap up mid‑December.

Butler described the rodeo grounds project as "massive" on a roughly 20‑acre site: underground wet and dry utilities and substantial grading are complete, mass grading and concrete pours are underway, and crews plan to pause construction in early January for scheduled events with a planned return in mid‑March to set ramadas and finish above‑grade utilities. Butler said phase 1 should be complete by next summer.

Jamie Sullivan, recreation manager, reviewed program events and data-collection methods. She said Pretty in Pink raised more than $1,300 and drew about 120 participants; the Mud Run had 342 participants. Sullivan estimated peak attendance at the Halloween event at roughly 3,500 and gave a broader attendance estimate for the evening of about 5,500, and noted those figures come from a mix of manual counts and a new trial of Placer AI footfall data. "We are still just learning how Placer AI works," Sullivan said, adding staff will use it alongside existing counts.

On aquatics, Sullivan said the department's top priority is swim lessons and safety training; school swim‑team practices and staff training further constrain available pool hours. She outlined cost and staffing barriers to year‑round programming: heating the pool is "between $1,500 and $2,000" per month, chemical usage rises with bather load, and seasonal staffing (many student workers) limits reliable year‑round operations. Sullivan said expanding year‑round programming would likely require adding year‑round maintenance and operations staff, which she described as financially impractical at present.

Commissioners asked about shade‑sail counts, drainage work at the rodeo grounds, and equipment sourcing; staff provided timelines and clarified that some drainage and additional phases remain for later work. The commission did not take formal action on any capital projects at the meeting; staff will return with updates as projects progress.