COMMERCE CITY —After two years of planning and research, and arguably decades of wishful thinking, Commerce City has begun construction on an outdoor aquatics center that is the first of five community investment projects designed to improve the image and quality of life for the city of 50,000.
The aquatic center will take up 2 acres on the northeast corner of Pioneer Park at 60th Avenue and Monaco Street. It will include a 5,000-square-foot zero-depth leisure pool, three water slides, a 250-foot lazy river with sprays and geysers, a 1,700-square-foot toddler pool, an activities pool, shaded areas and play structures.
“This is a transformational opportunity,” said Commerce City Mayor Sean Ford. “Having our first outdoor pool for all generations will help to achieve our vision of having a lifelong quality community.”
Rose Hill Elementary School students chose a “games” theme for the pool earlier this year. City officials say it will create a unique, fun environment and special identity for the new center.
The city is also holding a for the pool; the winning entry will receive a family pool pass for the summer of 2015. Ideas are being accepted through Nov. 7.
Golden Triangle Construction has committed to finishing the center by next summer, in about eight months.
In reference to the ambitious amount of amenities included in the aquatic center, Brian Laartz, president of Golden Triangle Construction said: “Over 37 years of business, we’ve built a lot of aquatic centers, but this is truly going to be one of the first of its kind.”
The $10 million project will be funded through revenue generated by the penny tax — a permanent, 1 percent sales tax increase that . The city will sell bonds over the next few years to pay for the upfront expenses of construction.
The penny tax, or , was designed by a grassroots group of 13 residents, business and property owners and nonprofits — collectively called the Quality Community Initiative — who met for two years to identify priority projects that Commerce City needed to address to sustain community growth and image improvement.
Five capital improvement projects totaling about $137 million were identified, and council agreed to build each one by Jan. 1, 2019.
The penny tax revenue is dedicated to build, operate and maintain those five projects which also include a new recreation center in the north part of the city and three new neighborhood parks, as well as road widening and improvements for heavily used corridors like 104th Avenue.
Some money will also go to expanding and improving the existing Commerce City Recreation Center at 6060 Parkway Drive, .
Maria Gonzalez, co-chair of Quality Community Initiative, said the group whittled the list of five projects down from more than 20 that were identified and then filed away as 10-, 20- or 30-year strategic plan components.
For now, the city plans to open the new recreation center in 2017 and the three parks will begin opening in staggered phases from 2015 to 2017.
“Recreation is definitively an important factor in quality of life,” said Sandy Carruthers, another member of the Quality Community Initiative and 24-year resident of Commerce City. “We have a fairly developed park and recreation system in the core city, but with the expansion in our northern tier, there’s been a real need to develop neighborhood parks and a new recreation center up there.”
Carruthers is also a member of the newly formed Capital Improvement Projects Citizen Advisory Committee, which council sanctioned Oct. 20 to provide guidance and oversight for the five projects over five years.
“This is first project out of the chute, and this is truly and longtime dream come true,” Carruthers said “And coupled with the that will be finished next year, I’d say we’re in the midst of the most exciting developments in Commerce City in more than a decade.”
