Thomasville set to make new waves
A rendering of the center that will be home to a new pool for Thomasville residents and visitors.
{Contributed photo/City of Thomasville}
The City of Thomasville is gearing up to make a major splash. At the City Council meeting on July 22, there was unanimous approval for the installment finance agreement and related documents in connection with the financing for the The Thomasville Aquatics & Community Center.
In replacement of the Memorial Park Pool on Stadium Dr., the location will now serve as the home of the new facility set to open next summer. The former pool, which had been in use for over 70 years, was demolished. Taking its place will be an outdoor, L-shaped pool. It will have a zero- grade entry, splash pad components at the entrance, a slide, five swimming lanes in the deeper depths, a rock wall and requirements that are compliant with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Locker rooms will be available near the pool deck.
Cory Tobin, the city’s parks and recreation director, is pleased to see the project coming to fruition.
“The purpose of the facility is to provide an engaging, fun, safe and equitable experience for all of our residents as well as create a high-performance public space. A new facility on this site has always been a goal of our current City Council members. The former pool had reached a bit of an impasse and so our council decided to act. We’re very fortunate as a community and department to have a council who sees the importance and value that recreational opportunities have on a community.”
Additionally, the center will feature two multipurpose rooms. One will have access to the pool deck via garage doors. Ideally, it will be used for rentals and programming. The other, at the front of the building, will also serve as the permanent location for City Council and committee meetings.
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Currently, demolition and early site work have begun. A general contractor hasn’t been finalized. Clark Patterson & Lee (CPL) are the architects for the project. No hours of operation have been determined yet.
As the work continues, Tobin is confident the council’s commitment aligns with the city’s principles and objectives.
“Our goal is always to provide the best services that we can for our residents in our community. This facility as stated previously will be a high-performance public space that will be able to be utilized in a variety of ways. Because of that it will be able to reach many of our community members in some form or fashion. We’re extremely excited to work to provide a facility of this caliber to our community.”
