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Not Wading Around: Vienna City Council finalizes revisions of Jackson Pool design

Mayor Randy Rapp talks about Jackson Pool during the Vienna City Council special meeting on Thursday. (Photo by James Dobbs)

VIENNA — Vienna City Council held a special meeting Thursday to finalize revisions of the Jackson Pool design in order to receive the final cost estimate and the renderings of the pool.

Melissa Elam, council recorder, started off the meeting and explained that Omni Associates Architects was unsure what council was asking for at their previous meeting in November.

Council was met with a resolution to help define the revisions needed to the pool design plan. The resolution considered adding or removing the play structures, a platform diving board, options for the waterslide, options for a splash pad, heaters, or other elements to be considered by council. Elam said it would take approximately two weeks to receive the final revised cost and design of the pool.

Chris Mancuso, councilmember, motioned to amend the resolution to remove the lily walk, agility course, climbing wall, and rope swing from the design plans, leaving the two basketball hoops in. The motion passed unanimously.

Elam originally wanted to include a platform diving board in the design revision, but decided against it after talking to representatives from Omni. They said a platform diving board is very expensive and are recommended to be higher than the pool’s depth will allow. Elam’s suggestion was to add a second identical spring board, because she felt one diving board wasn’t sufficient. Elam made a motion to amend the resolution to include a second spring board. The vote passed unanimously.

Chris Mancuso, councilmember, talks about slide options during the Vienna City Council special meeting on Thursday. Also pictured is Roger Bibbee, councilmember. (Photo by James Dobbs)

During the slide discussion, Mancuso said he thought it would be wise to look at more than one slide option, in order to be fiscally responsible.

“We even talked about way back when, at the very beginning of this whole conversation that we don’t want to have the Taj Mahal of pools, we want something that is of good quality and great for our community, and I think that’s very important,” he said. “But I think also as the city of Vienna we should be responsible with how much we are willing to spend on that.”

Mayor Randy Rapp commented that council hasn’t made any pool improvements in 50 years. He said the slide will be the main feature of the pool, and he felt like they should go with the design that was presented.

Elam motioned to amend the design to keep the current slide option as is, and not include additional options in the design revision. The amendment passed five to two, with Councilmember Kim Williams and Mancuso dissenting.

During the discussion of the splash pad, Williams said she felt that they could find some alternatives to the slides that would cost less, like the splash pad.

Kim Williams, councilmember, discusses splash pads during the Vienna City Council special meeting on Thursday. Also pictured is Tom Azinger, councilmember. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Williams made a motion to include the splash pad option to the revision. The vote was two to five. Williams and Mancuso voted for the splash pad, while the rest voted against it, so the motion failed, and was not added to the revision.

Elam made a motion to add a fogger device to the revision. The vote was six to one in favor, with Williams dissenting.

Council opted to keep the heaters in the design to possibly extend the pool’s season in the future.

Council voted and approved the resolution to finalize the scope and revisions of the pool designs. The vote was five to two, with Williams and Mancuso dissenting.

After the meeting, Mancuso commented on why he voted down the resolution. He said he didn’t feel comfortable with the decision made on the waterslide.

“It’s just kind of disheartening to me to see how we’re just plowing ahead with this design that was given to us from the very beginning really without any kind of thoughtful consideration for costs or anything,” he said.

Williams followed Mancuso’s comments and said she isn’t comfortable with spending more than $4.2 million on the pool, because the city has other needs.

The next Vienna City Council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Vienna City Building.

The Vienna Holly Days Christmas Parade will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday along Grand Central Avenue, from 46th to 23rd streets.

“It’s the largest parade that we’ve ever had for people to sign up,” Rapp said. “If you’re in town, please go down to Grand Central (Avenue) and watch the parade. It should be great.”

James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com.

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