Dalhart Re-Opens Remodeled Pool

Always known as the coldest place in Texas any given winter, this panhandle town of 5,300 people can also suffer through some miserable hot and dry summers and a swimming pool is just the ticket to keep tempers from flaring out on the XIT Ranch. Dalhart's swimming pool at 8,500 square feet of water surface was bigger than most municipal swimming pools in this part of the world but it lacked "pizazz". The bath house had become as obsolete as the pool and city hall heard the clamor for a better facility. In 2003, the City of Dalhart hired as prime consultant The C. T. Brannon Corporation , Aquatic Consultants and Civil Engineers, out of Tyler, Texas, to begin preparing plans for the renovations. Brannon engaged subconsulting architect, Terry Witherspoon of Witherspoon Architects, Lubbock, Texas to design the bath house.. Brannon's renovation of the pool created a double zero depth entry point on corners of the pool nearest the bath house with water depth only to two feet for a distance of about 25 feet from the old end wall. This shallow shelf was then turned into a spray park with Rain Drop umbrella, Rain Drop Tumble Buckets, interactive ground jets, and a Rain Drop Trio of Fun interactive play feature. Each toy can be independently adjusted in the pump house because of the windy conditions in Dalhart. The ground jet features are cycled by a motion detecting bollard that starts the jet cycle with a pass of a hand. The childrens pan slide was furnished by NBGS International. Beyond this shallow water on the other side of the dam wall shown in the picture, the water deepens to four feet maximum and lap lanes were added. Since the original pool depths had become too shallow for diving boards over time and because the shell leaked heavily, a new floor was needed at a shallower depth. Decks were completely taken up and replaced. To keep down the number of pipes under the deck, a stainless steel overflow system was installed to replace the old gutter with gutter drop out pipes. New main drains were designed to meet tougher Texas standards for main drains. The pool plumbing system was completely gutted but the pump house was salvaged. The filters are National Series Nemato horizontal fiberglass filters. The city elected to take the alternate bid to replace the old heater with a new low NOX Lochinvar gas fired pool heater. Because of its elevation (over 3,300 feet), Dalhart must heat their pool all summer long to compensate for overnight heat losses. Otherwise the water would chill to below 70 degrees F. each night. Pool contractor was Robertson Pools, Coppell, Texas. The project was completed in June, 2005 at a cost of about $560,000. The original bath house could not be salvaged because of obsolescence and had to be razed completely. In its place, Architect Terry Witherspoon designed a smaller but much more functional bath house with a smooth radius walls and roof line that seems to reach to the panhandle clouds. The city used an unusual delivery method for the bath house choosing to contract out supervision to Ronnie Hanbury Construction while independently contracting all the major elements of work separately including the decks, fences, masonry, foundations, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and finishes. Total cost of the bath house was approximately $330,000. The changes in the pool and bath house have to be seen to be appreciated. For that reason the pictures in this article show both before and after so you can see the contrast. For more information, contact Greg Duggan, City Manager, at gregd@xit.net.