(Radio Iowa) – Facing a multi-million dollar price tag for replacing its public swimming pool, a small Iowa community is aiming to build a different kind of structure. A delegation from Newell, a northwest Iowa town of about 900 residents, will meet later this month with the company that built a public swimming pond that opened this summer in a small Wisconsin town.
“The further you go out, the deeper it gets and it’s kind of like a 10 foot maximum depth, so we’re going to pursue looking into that water feature and we’re not going to call it a pond because (when) I think of a pond I think of cloudy, dirty water,” Newell Mayor Justin Lyman said. “This is actually pretty clean and clear.”
The concrete swimming pool that opened in Newell in 1956 has been closed since the summer of 2023 due to safety issues. Replacing it was estimated to cost $3.8 million. The alternative would cost around half a million. Lyman said it will feature clear water, a sand beach, decorative rock, aeration and large inflatables and will be branded as the Newell Waterpark. “It makes us pretty unique. I think we’ll be able to attract folks from the area and maybe further out as well,” Lyman said.
Lyman envisions small kids digging in the sand and older kids swimming and playing on the inflatable fixtures. “It kind of appeals to everyone,” Lyman says. “Folks that don’t have kids can come in and sit on the beach and have conversation and people will put their phones down and just each other’s company.”
The committee that formed when the pool in Newell closed has already raised about half the money needed and Lyman said given the pace of fundraising, construction could begin next spring and the Newell Waterpark could open next summer. Demolition of the old pool and bathhouse in Newell will begin in August and that will be the site of the town’s new waterpark.
