SUN VALLEY : Renovations Planned to Reopen City Pool

City officials are scheduled Thursday to unveil the design for a $1.2-million renovation to the swimming pool at the Su n Valley Recreation Center, which has been closed since the summer of 1991.

Neighborhood children “need every diversion that can be afforded them,” said John Vowels, the city’s aquatics director for the Valley. “I think the rebirth of this pool would go a long way in helping these kids.”

The 66-year-old pool was closed because it had become unsafe. The concrete decking was disintegrating and flaking, the pipes were rusted, and the gutter system was falling off. Winter rains also had damaged the outdoor locker rooms.

City officials will have an architect’s rendering of the new pool facility available for a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the recreation center at 8123 Vineland Ave. in Sun Valley. The design is similar to another city pool at the Stoner Recreation Center off Santa Monica Boulevard.

The plan calls for the pool to be replaced and the locker rooms rebuilt with roofs added.

Residents at the meeting Thursday will be asked to give their input or objections to the project. Construction could begin either in late spring or early summer, Vowels said. With a 10-month construction schedule, the new pool could be open for the summer of 1995.

“It’s very important to get this facility on line as soon as possible,” Vowels said.

About 7,200 people visited the Sun Valley pool in the summer of 1991. The nearest city pool is the Fernangeles Pool at Sheldon Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard, about 2 1/2 miles away, Vowels said. That pool draws 15,000 to 20,000 visitors a year, Vowels said.