THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230451
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
The City Council agreed Tuesday to spend another $721,000 to repair the pools at city recreation centers.
The equipment in the pool rooms, including light fixtures and heating systems, has been rusting almost since the equipment was installed in the early 1990s.
The repairs were approved by a vote of 10-1. Councilwoman Nancy K. Parker voted against the expenditure.
The city says the troubles were caused by design flaws at the Great Neck, Bayside and Princess Anne recreation centers. The architect of those centers, who was sued by the city in November, says the problem is improper maintenance.
The problems do not threaten public safety at the pools, City Engineer John W. Herzke said, but it will cost more than $2 million to fix the problems.
Herzke said his original $1.5 million estimate had to be increased by more than $700,000 - necessitating Tuesday's vote - because of additional corrosion and higher-than-expected construction bids.
The Virginia Beach Circuit Court has recommended that the city and Krummell & Associates, P.C., the Virginia Beach architecture firm that designed the centers, settle their dispute out of court. Mediation is scheduled to begin next month with a trial date set for January in case mediation fails.
Fixing the pool problems at Great Neck and Bayside will require installing waterproof lights, hanging new ventilation ducts and cutting holes into several walls in the pool areas to reduce extremely high humidity levels. The Princess Anne Recreation Center, which was completed last year, was redesigned after the troubles were detected at the other centers.
Since the council authorized the repair work late last year, the high humidity levels in the Bayside pool have caused significantly more corrosion than expected, Herzke said. Instead of repairing motors, fixtures and other equipment that is subject to corrosion, the city will have to replace them, he said.
``It's got to be fixed,'' he said.
The city recently conducted another safety examination of the pools to ensure that they could remain open to the public. As a result of the study, the city attached additional supports to duct work in the pool area at Bayside, Herzke said.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL by CNB