School officials scrap plans for ‘big shiny pool’ in favor of less costly, smaller option
Facing budget constraints, Glendale school officials will scrap an earlier plan to construct a large aquatic center at Glendale High School and instead build a smaller pool.
In 2013, school board members approved a preliminary design for an aquatic center they planned to pay for with leftover Measure K bond funds that had been earmarked to modernize Glendale High.
At the time, the district’s architect firm, Corona-based KPI Architects Inc., submitted an ambitious plan for a 54-meter by 25-yard pool to accommodate 14 swimming lanes in a 25-yard direction and eight lanes in a 50-meter direction.
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Three times the size of Glendale High’s current pool, the new pool would have allowed for three water polo teams to practice at once.
However, when the firm’s owner, David Kindred, passed away unexpectedly in August 2014, the project stalled.
In late 2015, the Glendale school board hired tBP/Architecture to finish design plans based on the ones KPI Architects Inc. had originally drafted.
When the revised plans were finished, there was a hitch — Glendale Unified would have to pay about $9 million more for the pool than officials had in their $10.9-million budget for the project, said Tony Barrios, director of facilities for Glendale Unified.
Earlier this month, Glendale school officials discussed constructing a smaller pool at 38 meters by 25 yards that would fit within their budget and meet CIF qualifications for competitions.
No existing pools in Glendale Unified meet CIF qualifications, which means local students have had to use CIF-qualified pools in the Burbank or Pasadena school districts for competitions in the past.
For school board member Jennifer Freemon, who is a former swim and water polo coach, the pool meeting CIF standards is more important than “the big shiny pool.”
The smaller pool would accommodate 15 swimming lanes in a 25-yard direction, two water polo practice courses, one NCAA 30-meter men’s water polo course, and one NCAA 25-meter women’s water polo course.
Two new locker rooms would be about 5,000 square feet in size, instead of 8,000 square feet proposed in the original plan.
Barrios said the new design plans are expected to go before the school board for consideration in the weeks ahead.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
