The Houston City Council received an update Monday on a grant application, that if approved, would lead to the construction of a new municipal swimming pool at West Side Park.
Kayla Sloan, parks and recreation director, said she and city grants writer Elaine Campbell have been working daily to beat a Feb. 14 deadline to submit paperwork for the $250,000 grant, which has a 50-50 match component.
As part of her report, City Administrator Tona Bowen said she wanted to make sure the council understood that as part of the grant, if successful, the city is committing about $1.2 million of its own reserve funds toward the project. The council approved seeking the grant at its Jan. 22 meeting.
Sloan said a pool engineering firm had determined Monday that the cost of the project would be about $1.2 million, depending on the scope of the features associated with the eight-lane pool that would be built at the existing site off King Street.
As part of a pre-application process, Sloan said it was discovered that the grant process is competitive. Of the 40 received during the last round, 12 obtained funds. She said letters of support for the grant application are being sought. Last year, a children’s pool did not open due to structural issues.
Sloan shared several features that the new pool might include:Â the current water slide, rock climbing, a low-dive board, zipline, basketball and a swim lift that meets federal disability standards. No updates of the bath house are included in the pricing.
Voters will decide April 2 whether to increase the city’s sale tax rate by one cent for police, fire and parks and recreation.