San Jacinto Park Pool, LaPorte, Texas  

The San Jacinto Park swimming pool used to be one of those typical neighborhood, L-shaped pools. About 25 meters in one direction, 3'-6" deep to 10'-0" deep.  A diving board in the other.  Penitentiary style fencing and decks was the general feeling you got once inside the gate.  Not a lot of fun here and, as a result, people stayed away in droves.   However, private aviation above the pool was at an all time high when it was realized that the bath house dressing areas, men's and women's showers, were not roofed . . . just eight foot high masonry walls open to the sun.  The center part which housed the offices and concessions was roofed. The pictures don't do it justice!  In late 2001, the City of LaPorte, southeast of Houston near the ship channel, decided to do something about it. Trouble was, there wasn't much money . . . only about $260,000 to do bath house renovations, ADA compliance, new play features, replace the filters and pumps, and fix the old pool.  The Brannon Corporation aquatic experts were brought in and decided the neighborhood needed a reason to come back.  First of all the fences were moved back on one side to provide a grassy areas for parties and sunning and to alleviate that feeling of confinement you get with fences within 6 feet of the pool.  The new features added included these: Zero depth entry on one end Raising the main pool floor to a 2'-0" maximum depth Adding a dam wall to separate an adult area in the old diving well and shallowing this area to 5'-0" depth. Adding an umbrella fountain, a Raindrop Tumblebuckets® fountain, an NBGS children's flat bottom slide, and NBGS floating toys in the pool. On the deck, the consultants laid out an SCS 108® multi-legged play structure over a rubber cushion area. The old pool had been rehabilitated years before with a sprayed-on fiberglass liner which extended up and over the cast concrete coping units.  As part of the renovation, the coping was removed and replaced with a cast in place concrete coping. The entire pool was then lined with Natare's Natatec® 60 mil PVC pool liner (www.natare.com).  The pump house was demolished and the bath house/office building was revamped by gutting the plumbing and adding a few walls here and there. Most importantly, this time they put the roof on! The breezeway design left an alcove for vending machines as well as creating a little natural air conditioning from those coastal sea breezes.   Contractor for the project was Texas Southwest Aquatics out of nearby Pasadena, Texas (www.txaquatics.com). Stephen Barr, Director of Parks and Recreation was the city staff project manager.