Sunday, January 17, 2010
Pining for the pools in Christiansburg
Christian Trejbal
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From the RoundTable blog
Mill Lane, the street that runs past the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, has become one of my favorite shortcuts. Not only does it bypass traffic lights and congestion, it also allows me to watch the changes as the facility nears completion.
A few weeks ago, a colorful, curving slide appeared behind the windows. It promises giggles and splashes, but so far only teases residents frustrated by delays.
The Aquatic Center should have opened a year ago. A project can fall a week or two behind schedule and no one complains. Such are the vagaries of construction. Even a month or two, one might chalk up to bad luck. When we start to measure in years, somebody messed up big time.
These sorts of large, public facilities can be completed on time. The newly opened recreation center in Roanoke County did not face such delays, for example.
Christiansburg residents might want to visit it to see hints of what they might soon have. Roanoke County built a clean, expansive, fresh temple of fitness and fun. Visitors can work out and then relax in a pool built for recreation.
It is smart about the environment, too. There are premium parking spots set aside for fuel-efficient vehicles. Lights automatically brighten and dim as needed to supplement natural light from expansive windows. The whole thing is LEED certified.
Christiansburg will have more and less.
The aquatic center will offer some cardio equipment, but its focus is squarely on the water. Not only will it have a recreation pool, it also will have a hot therapy pool and the best competition pool for hundreds of miles, maybe in Virginia, maybe even on the East Coast.
On the environment, well, this is Christiansburg. Green is not exactly in the town's vocabulary.
Last week, Aquatics Director Terry Caldwell and Aquatics Service Manager Allison Zuchowski showed me around the incomplete center. Looking into three empty pools, a vision of the future materialized from the concrete dust swirling in the cold air. This has the potential to be a top-notch facility.
Caldwell foresees economic-boosting events. She said swim competition organizers already have contacted her about scheduling events.
Although the Virginia Tech swim team has a lock on many premium hours in the competition pool for training, at least two lanes will remain open to the public at those times. A couple more lanes can be set off in the recreation pool, too, if there is demand.
When the partners in the project are not being coy about construction delays, they point fingers at each other. The town, Tech and the construction company all have excuses and ways to blame the others.
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Missed deadlines in part are due to design changes made after construction started. Everyone wants to get the conduits, wiring and other infrastructure correct now so they do not have to tear the place up later to install upgrades.
"Everything they can think of, they have put in," Zuchowski said. "It will be a state-of-the-art facility."
Caldwell elaborated that when there are major swim meets -- she expects ACC tournaments and hopes for Olympic trials -- television broadcasters such as ESPN will be able to pull up their trucks and plug in, like they can at Lane Stadium.
A wall, thankfully, will separate the competition pool from the recreation and therapy pools. That means the public will be able to play while an event is going on. It also will keep screaming children away from adults who want to swim laps in peace. Separate filtration systems will provide additional protection from yellow contamination.
Aquatics staff have not wasted the extra time. They have busily trained, developed instructional material, learned new software and so on. Because the town did not have any pool before this, they had to create an entire department from scratch before opening day.
That day might be within sight. Neither woman would commit to an estimated opening date, but Caldwell expects it will be within "the next couple months."
In a year, after the facility has been open for months, the waters will wash away the worst memories of delay.
Christiansburg residents should not forget entirely, though. Town council and the town manager owe everyone a better explanation.
Council members up for re-election must desperately hope citizens are swimming before the May election.
