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After monthslong delays, Mountain View’s new pool facility at Rengstorff Park is on track to open, although no actual date has been announced yet.
The aquatics center was expected to open this summer, but hit a number of snags with equipment installation in the “last mile” of the project, according to David Printy, principal project manager.
Construction for the $29 million facility began in May 2022. The project faced some initial delays because of supply chain issues related to the pandemic, but then largely stayed on schedule, with the last round of equipment delivered to the site around March, Printy said.
“We had reason to believe that we would be able to start connecting them all together, and configuring them and have them operational, certainly by May,” Printy said.
But the installation proved to be highly technical. The 8,200-square-foot facility features the latest in green building design and is entirely electrified, using photovoltaic and solar thermal energy systems to heat nearly 500,000 gallons of pool water, according to the city.
“We use a lot of heat pump systems, and they use electricity to heat the water, and that’s something that is common. But it’s usually not common to string 22 of them together and have them operate in tandem with valves and pressure gauges and controls,” Printy said.
“All that complexity was something we certainly knew we would face, but we didn’t realize the cumulative impact of a lot of those things,” he added.
Printy did not provide a timeline for when the pool would be ready to open, but things were moving in the right direction, he said. The pool had some “partial startups” earlier in the week, with encouraging reports from field staff, he said. He anticipates that “full startups” would start to happen in the next few weeks.
In addition to making sure all the equipment is working properly, the aquatics center also needs a certificate of occupancy, said Kristin Crosby, assistant community services director. Once the certificate is obtained, the city plans to bring in lifeguards who will need several weeks of training to get familiar with the site’s operations. “We can’t just take them off one deck and put them on another deck,” Crosby said.
After the training, the city likely will have a soft opening, bringing over some of its existing programs to the new facility. The grand opening dedication would be scheduled after then, Crosby said.
Originally built in 1959, the aquatic center will have new and upgraded amenities. It has a 25-meter by 25-yard lap pool with diving boards, a recreation pool with a water slide and interactive features, locker room and shower facilities, as well as a multi-purpose room. There also will be recreation coordinators on site during regular business hours, Crosby said.
But it’s really the all-electric heating system and reliance on renewable energy that sets the facility apart from other municipal pools of its size in California, Printy said. “(It) will be a very unique and one-of-a-kind facility once it’s all completed,” he added.
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excited for this to open. very impressed to hear about it being entirely electrified, using photovoltaic and solar thermal energy systems.
Do we know what are the business hours expected for the center?
> The aquatics center was expected to open this summer
It was originally scheduled to open a lot before then. The first date that I saw was Fall 2023.
> But the installation proved to be highly technical
You would have hoped that the people designing, installing, and operating it, would understand how it works. You’d also require that the people managing a $29M project would have prior experience.
> Printy did not provide a timeline for when the pool would be ready to open
No one would believe it anyway. There’s been a serious lack of transparency, with only vague dates given, that kept slipping.