Yesterday marks the second anniversary of the daily postings. The first topic I covered was Roosevelt Pool. At that time the pool was being demolished. A lot has happened since then. I asked Jim Chapman to provide us with an account along the way, and he obliged. So without further ado . . .
After almost two years of going thru every imaginable bureaucratic hoop, the JPA board was finally able to award a Design-Build contract to Modern Building Company Inc (MBC) of Chico for the new pool in late 2015. It must be noted that during the first couple of years of the existence of the JPA, considerable time was spent evaluating potential locations for a new pool, along with the demolition of the old Roosevelt Pool, so the process to begin constructing the new pool really didn’t begin until the middle part of 2015.
Resolution 15-07 was adopted on December 3, 2015 authorizing Phase 1 for the design portion, based on months of discussion preceding the action. MBC had 120 days to complete that task. The 120 days ended around the first of April 2016. Based on their initial presentation, another 6 weeks was taken by Jared and his staff to narrow the proposal down to something that fit within the expected budget.
One of the big sticking points that frustrated the JPA board was the fact that MBC in putting together the their design, they based it on communications from city staff, and initially designed the pool to be heated by the city natural gas service and not the geothermal resources that are available. Whether it was intentional or not will probably be debated for years to come. So a part of the delay in April and May was necessitated by the fact that MBC had to modify its construction documents to incorporate how to utilize the city geothermal heating system. To the distress of some of the board members, the on-site low-temperature geothermal well that produces 106˚ warm water is not being utilized in the new pool. The on-site well was the water that not only filled the pool, but it heated the original Roosevelt Pool. From its construction in the late 1930s until around 1985, Roosevelt Pool used the on-site well to fill it and keep it warm. Around 1985 the city shifted the heat source to the new city “hot” geothermal well (aka, Richardson-1) located on South Lassen Street near the Susan River producing 180˚ water. The old pool was served on the back end of the city geothermal system loop to maintain the heat in the pool. It is Richardson-1 well that will be the primary heat source for the new pool, with the natural gas system being considered a back-up heat source. One issue still to be worked out between the JPA board and the city is the cost of the domestic water being provided and then heated by the hot geothermal well. When the city operated the old pool, it was an in-house budget and finance issue. Now that the JPA is an independent agency, the city will be treating the service like they would with any other customer. The JPA will have, at some point, decide if it is more feasible to obtain water and heating from the city or to utilize the JPA-owned on-site geothermal well, which sits about 20 feet from the new pool and the new pool house.
On May 31st, 2016 the JPA Board approved Resolution 16-03 for the final design and authorized Phase 2 for construction of the pool, not to exceed $2.75 million. MBC had 45 days to gear up for the construction phase and began immediately to prepare the construction site. On June 21st the JPA Board, along with MBC and their sub-contractor Holiday Pools of Chico, held a groundbreaking ceremony that was attended by more than 100 local residents.
It has been impressive watching MBC construct the new pool on the old site. The construction site was supervised by Cliff Kegley, Superintendent for MBC. Cliff is definitely “old school” as a contractor and knows his stuff. The quality of the workmanship he and his crews performed was impressive. The pool itself, was sub-contracted by MBC to Holiday Pools of Chico. Jim Dougherty is the owner of Holiday Pools and was personally involved in supervising the construction of that portion of the project. Dougherty has a long career in pool construction and has built several community pools throughout the north state. His expertise was clearly demonstrated with the state-of-the-art features that will be part of the operation of the new pool. It was hoped by all concern that the pool would be completed and filled with warm water before the winter weather set in. The pool is designed to keep water in it year-round and with the geothermal heat, it would be protected from the cold and freezing temperatures during the winter. Unfortunately, everything was pretty much done, except for the final plaster coat for the pool when the weather shut down the project. So consequently, the pool has sat exposed to the elements this winter and until spring arrives it won’t be finished and filled. It is anticipated that by the end of April the project will be completed and turned over to the JPA. After a period of training staff in its operation, the new pool could be utilized by the community by early summer at the latest.