City of Ammon wants public’s input on plans for a new swimming pool
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AMMON — The city of Ammon is asking for the community’s input on possible concepts for a new swimming pool.
Its plans for indoor and outdoor configurations are being presented to the public, along with a survey gauging community support at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 28 at the Ammon City Building.
“I definitely wanted this study to be done so that we knew conclusively what options we have and what kind of designs we could look at,” Ammon Mayor Sean Coletti says. “At the end of the day, the public’s input is really important. There will be a significant cost associated with this, I have no doubt. We’re taking it one step at a time.”
Coletti set the goal to construct a new Ammon City pool in the next five years last May and said the study is one step toward making good on that initiative.
Ammon’s current pool, a summer mainstay and community hallmark, was built in 1967.
“The pool is aging and undersized for our community,” Ammon City Administrator Micah Austin said. “We have done a great job of maintaining that pool … but we’re at a point now where our community is requiring more space for swimming lessons and more space for recreation.”
Coletti says everything from a “Chevrolet to a Cadillac is on the table … from a basic rebuild of the Ammon pool to a community fitness and pool center that would be closed in a building. So obviously, there’ll be a big cost differential between the lowest and the highest cost items.”
The City Council will consider the public’s input and determine what option best fits Ammon’s desires and budget.
“At the end of the day, that’s the question — what is the public willing to do with this pool?” Coletti said. “It’s going to take a public-private partnership to make it work.”
In addition to presenting potential ideas for a new Ammon pool, consultants from Counsilman-Hunsaker will share how residents could pay for it. The City Council contracted with the firm for $43,000 to conduct the feasibility study and survey, Austin said.
Ammon residents cover the city’s parks and recreation opportunities through their property taxes, the mayor said, though today’s swimming pool operates largely on admission fees. An Ammon pool rebuild could draw from Ammon property taxes, while a proposal for a larger recreation district could potentially be a ballot initiative in Bonneville County.
With Thursday’s meeting, the Council will gather public input and move into Phase II of the process to determine what pool option to pursue moving forward.
Ammon’s mayor is confident the community will come together to complete one of the project’s renditions to last for generations to come.
“When the original Ammon pool was put in place, it was a community effort,” Coletti said. “There were people who donated their time, their expertise and their manpower. They put it together because it was important to them. I think this effort to get a new pool will require much of the same thing.”