Danville to replace aging pool

This drawing from ETC Engineers & Architects of Little Rock shows the concept for the Danville Aquatic Center. Voters approved the renewal of a half-cent sales tax to fund the $1.5 million center, which will include a 3,000-square-foot bathhouse.
This drawing from ETC Engineers & Architects of Little Rock shows the concept for the Danville Aquatic Center. Voters approved the renewal of a half-cent sales tax to fund the $1.5 million center, which will include a 3,000-square-foot bathhouse.

DANVILLE — Danville Mayor Phil Moudy said it’s “almost a miracle” the way circumstances came together to fund a new city swimming pool.

In a special election earlier this month, residents voted to renew a half-cent sales tax, which had been devoted since 2000 to building a sewer plant, Moudy said.

“We paid off a half-cent sales tax for sewer in April,” he said. “We re-upped the same half-cent sales tax from sewer to aquatic-center sales tax. This thing just worked out perfectly.”

The 1969 pool at Danville City Park was closed this season, Moudy said, because repairs were too costly.

He said the 15-year tax will bring in $1.495 million to fund a swimming pool.

“We’re building it in the same place. We’ll use the existing hole where the old one is ripped out,” he said. The project also includes a large covered facility, which the city hasn’t had before, the

mayor said. He said it will have a men’s and women’s dressing area, a concession stand and storage. Moudy said he envisions the building being used for birthdays, parties and anniversaries, “which is going to be really nice.”

William Andrews, project manager at ETC Engineers & Architects Inc. in Little Rock, referred to the structure as a bathhouse.

“The bathhouse will be 3,200 to 3,500 square feet, depending on what we can fit in the budget,” he said. The pool will be 6,000 to 7,000 square feet, depending on cost estimates.

Moudy said the pool will be “a zero-entry pool designed for young children, elderly, disabled.” It doesn’t have steps, and he described entering the pool as like walking into the ocean from the beach. The shallow end is “kind of like a splash-pad area; it has all types of fountains and slides and things like that,” he said.

ETC Engineers & Architects Inc. also is the firm being used for the Russellville Aquatic Center, an indoor facility under construction.

“We’re not trying to stay up with Russellville,” Moudy said with a laugh.

Russellville is building a $6.6 million aquatic center for the city’s 27,920 residents. Danville is a city of 2,400.

Work on the Danville pool is scheduled to begin in December or January with removal of the old pool, Moudy said. “Getting the bonds sold should be done by the end of September. Hopefully, the contract will be let by November. If everything goes well, we hope to have [the pool open] by Memorial Day,” he said.

The half-cent tax is divided into 3/8 to pay off the debt and 1/8 for operation and maintenance of the pool, city parks and city programs such as softball and baseball, Moudy said. When the debt on the pool is paid off, it will “disappear,” he said. The 1/8-cent sales tax will remain. “There’s no increase on anybody,” he said. “It is a perfect scenario.”

In the past, residents have paid $25 for a season pass to use the city’s pool.

“I’m not sure if [the cost of a pass is] going up — probably not,” he said.

“[The swimming pool] was there almost 50 years; people in this town are used to having a swimming pool,” Moudy said.

“It’s just going to be a dream come true for the town.”

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

Upcoming Events