ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 13, 1996 TAG: 9606130021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County's new outdoor pool could open as early as June 22 thanks to a push by county officials and contractors to step up work on the project, which has been delayed by weather.
County Administrator Betty Thomas informed the Board of Supervisors Monday that the pool is set to be completed sometime next week. While a June 24 opening date was mentioned, it is possible the pool may open two days earlier, if the weather cooperates.
Still, that's a month later than the county had expected to have the pool open. Outdoor pools typically open Memorial Day weekend.
"June is our busiest month at the pool and ... revenues are normally around $10,000," Thomas wrote in a letter to Gregory Haley, the acting county attorney.
In a May 30 letter to Paddock Swimming Pool Corp. of Rockville, Md., Thomas called the delay to late June "unacceptable." She noted the contract said the pool should be "substantially completed" by April 30 and finalized by May 24.
"It was made abundantly clear that we must open on time this year due to not having a pool available for two years ... For each day you delay, the county is losing a considerable amount of revenue and credibility with the public," Thomas wrote.
Montgomery County has been without a public outdoor pool for two summers, after a faulty underground valve and hard winter weather led to serious damage to the original 1970s-era pool at the Mid-County Park, located on County Drive, off U.S. 460 across from the Corning Inc. plant in northern Christiansburg.
While the county took a hard stance in the last two weeks to finish the pool, things were sounding more conciliatory Wednesday.
Paddock Swimming Pool Corp. President Mark Wilkinson said the work force on the pool has been at least doubled in an effort to complete the project.
Wilkinson blamed delays largely on the weather - not just recent heavy rains but the long winter that continued into spring.
"We're pulling out all the stops to get it done. They are very anxious to get the pool turned over to the public and so are we," Wilkinson said.
"We're talking with the contractor to see what they might do to make amends," said Jeff Lunsford, assistant county administrator.
Wilkinson said negotiations of what that might be are ongoing.
"People are trying," Lunsford said. "I think the contractor is doing his best to get this thing done now."
While June may typically be a big month for outdoor pools, Wilkinson said the recent rainy days coupled with an extended school year may have minimized the potential revenue loss for the county.
"I think we're in a conciliatory mood. It's a rare occasion we turn a project over late," he said. The company doesn't want a delayed Montgomery County pool to be an indication of how it performs, he said.
The new pool, built where the former one once stood, will feature a giant frog that sports a red tongue as a sliding board, a two-tube water slide, a giant mushroom with cascading water and a 20-foot diameter island with palm trees.
A volleyball court, geysers to send streams of water in the air and a baby pool complete with a water squirting from a whale's blowhole round out the amenities of the project.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB