Sherman Oaks : Pool Upgrade Planned at Recreation Center

Within the next few years, the Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Recreation Center will become one of three Valley parks with a heated public pool open year-round, according to Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department plans.

In a $2.7-million scheduled upgrade, the existing, antiquated pool and its bath building will be demolished to pave the way for a more modern outdoor pool. At present, the unheated pool is open for only four months a year.

“We are still finalizing the plans,” said Ron Fitzpatrick, director of design and construction for the parks department. He said that a dollar figure and the length and timing of construction are not nailed down yet.

Based on tentative plans, demolition of the existing pool will not occur until this year’s swim season ends in mid-September, said Olga Singer, a Valley recreation supervisor. Once construction begins, the project is expected to take a year or more, she said.

The existing pool is more than 30 years old and looks it, she said.

The upgrade is “a wonderful thing” she said, that will “give more service to the public, and they certainly take advantage of all the activities available at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks.”

The funds for the pool upgrade will come from a combination of voter-approved bond money and so-called Quimby funds--fees paid by developers for community recreation facilities in the vicinity of their developments.

Two year-round heated pools exist in the Valley. One is at Cleveland High School in Reseda and the other is at the Hubert Humphrey Recreation Center in Pacoima.