Clinton gets $500,000 from state to help pay for new pool complex
Clinton has permanently closed its Jaycee City Park swimming pool. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The current pool has been closed since 2019, and the city has said it would not be reopened.
Instead, the city will “reconfigure and renovate the pool compound,” according to a city announcement.
The total project will cost about $1 million, with the city matching the state grant with its own money, City Manager Roger Houck said.
“The current pool will be removed and replaced with a smaller Americans with Disabilities Act accessible pool and adjacent splash pad,” the city’s announcement said. “The existing bathhouse and entrance will be upgraded for ADA accessibility.”
The project is not without controversy, with multiple commenters the past few days on social media sites complaining about the plans to replace the current pool with a smaller one.
But Houck said those new complaints about the city’s plans are coming too late.
“We had two or three input meetings before we went to the state for the grant, and we did decide to make the pool quite a bit larger than it was in the original plan,” Houck said. “The time for public input has passed.
“But the main reason we’re building a new pool complex is to make it ADA compliant. The current pool was built in 1967, and there is almost nothing about it that is compliant – the entrances, concessions, bathrooms or the pool.
“We’re also making it more attractive, more like a water park with some splash pad features along with a swimming pool,” he said. “We will have new picnic shelters. Right now, there is one shelter, and it is not ADA compliant. We will also have some shaded structures to sit under.”
While the city hopes to have the new pool complex open by next June, Houck said the timetable for construction depends on how fast the state moves with granting the city a contract for use of the grant money.
“This is the largest recreation grant the city has ever gotten, but these grants are different,” he said. “I would love to think that by the first of year we would have a contract in hand. But we don’t know how long it will take the state to give us a contract. The goal is to have something open by next June, but that depends on the state, on what they allow us to do.”
The old pool will not be reopened because it’s in very poor condition, Houck said.
“It has major problems with the plumbing, the liner,” he said. “We do have a small splash pad open at Lakefront Park.”
Also not clear yet is how much, if anything, the city will charge people for admission to the pool complex, Houck said.
“There has always been a charge to use the pool,” he said. “Moving forward, we haven’t decided yet. Greenville did away with their pool and went only with a splash pad. They only charge for parties at night.
“We’ve always charged, but we never made money; it’s a service. We just tried to cover some of the expenses. The only time we ever came close to breaking even was one year when the Oak Ridge and Norris pools were closed for the year.”
The grant for the new pool complex is coming through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. It’s part of more than $7.5 million awarded to communities throughout the state from the Local Parks and Recreation Fund program and the Land and Water Conservation Fund program.
The state is also awarding $1.89 million in grants from the Recreation Trails Program.
“We are happy to announce grants that will enhance the outdoor experience in communities across our state,” said Jim Bryson, deputy commissioner of TDEC. “We want Tennesseans to enjoy recreational activity, and we recognize local leaders need funding to make it happen. These grants help meet that need.”