After being closed this past summer -- for the first time in 50 years -- the swimming pool at Withrow Springs State Park will be repaired and reopened, hopefully by late May, said Jordan Thomas, chief planner for Arkansas State Parks.
It's the only public swimming pool in Madison County and for half a century it was the summer hangout for children from Huntsville and surrounding communities.
But just days before it was scheduled to open over Memorial Day weekend for the summer season, the state parks division announced that the pool 5 miles north of Huntsville would remain closed this past summer because of safety concerns.
"An engineering investigation into the pool's supporting walls found the potential for a catastrophic failure to be so severe that even park staff cannot enter the area," according to a news release last spring. "The very real risk of bodily harm had to be top priority when arriving at the conclusion to keep visitors out of this part of the park for now."
Thomas said the repairs will cost an estimated $140,000 to $170,000. He said the work will entail replacing most of the concrete block of two walls that support the pool deck and mechanical room.
Another wall and a section of the cracking pool deck also will be replaced.
"We aren't exactly sure if those are cracks due to any underlying structural issue or just surface cracks," Thomas said. "Obviously, we need to fix that wall and make sure the pool deck is safe."
If there are unforeseen structural issues that will increase the cost of the repairs, the parks division will reassess the project, he said.
"The plan right now is to restore it back to functioning condition," Thomas said.
The state will take bids on the project, and Thomas hopes work will begin early in 2019. The plan is to have the work done and the swimming pool reopened by Memorial Day weekend, which is normally when the pool opens for summer. The pool usually remains open until Labor Day in September.
Later, improvements might be made to the pool, Thomas said. People have complained that there is not enough shade and not enough seats.
He said the state hired CEI Engineering Associates Inc. of Bentonville as a consultant on the project, and it subcontracted with Tatum-Smith Engineers Inc. of Rogers to inspect the swimming pool.
Huntsville Mayor Darrell Trahan. said he's glad to hear the pool will be repaired.
"We're real excited about getting that doggone pool opened back up," Trahan said. "It was a huge loss to the city as well as the entire county. We've very excited at the prospect at having that back."
Trahan said the swimming pool was the anchor of the state park, and fewer people will visit the park if the pool is closed.
Meg Matthews, a spokesman for the parks division, said they don't keep visitation numbers for individual parks.
Earl Minton, superintendent at Withrow Springs State Park, said he believes the number of visitors to the park was down this past summer, but he doesn't attribute that to the swimming pool being closed.
"We're down some," he said. "I had a superintendent's meeting last week, and it seemed like everybody's camping numbers were down some."
Minton said the pool was built in 1967 and 1968. He said it was renovated in 1997 and 1998.
The renovation eliminated a barrier that separated the deep end from the shallow end of the pool. The result was an 86-by-35-foot swimming pool with a depth that ranged from 1 to 9 feet. Minton said a kiddie pool also was added at that time.
From 2006 to 2017, the parks system invested nearly $3.5 million on repair and renovation projects at Withrow Springs, according to the news release. That figure includes about $1.8 million for construction of new campgrounds. Arkansas State Parks is a division of the state Department of Parks and Tourism.
Withrow Springs was one of seven state parks that had swimming pools. The others are Crater of Diamonds in Murfreesboro, Devil's Den in West Fork, Lake Chicot in Lake Village, Lake Fort Smith in Mountainburg, Mount Nebo in Dardanelle and Petit Jean in Morrilton.
State Desk on 10/02/2018