Fort Worth parks board recommends five new pools

FORT WORTH -- The city's Parks and Community Services Advisory Board voted Wednesday to recommend construction of five aquatic centers in the next few years to replace existing pools that have been closed since 2010.

The city is already planning to build a $3.85 million neighborhood aquatic center at Marine Park that would include a multiuse pool, water slide, play features, kiddie pool and shade structures. The council is expected to vote in March on a contractor for the new pool, which would open in summer 2013.

The city is also spending $250,000 to reopen the existing Marine Park pool for this summer only. It will then be demolished.

As part of its recommendation Wednesday, the advisory board recommended a similar aquatic center for the east side to open in summer 2014. Within the next two to four years, the board said, an aquatic center should be built on the west side, and in north and south Fort Worth in the next five to seven years.

The board's recommendations will be forwarded to the City Council, which is not obligated to follow them.

City Councilman Joel Burns has spearheaded efforts to find a public-private partnership to allow the reopening of the Forest Park pool, which was the most popular in the city before it closed in 2010.

After Tuesday's City Council meeting, Burns said donors have not come forward as hoped.

Forest Park pool closed after its liner detached. Marine Park and the other five pools have been closed since 2009 because of budget cuts.

Marine Park was picked to reopen this summer because it would be the cheapest to fix and is in an area with few other publicly accessible pools.

Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698

Twitter: @fwhanna

This story was originally published January 25, 2012 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Fort Worth parks board recommends five new pools."