Tyler Splash

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Tyler, Texas Completes Splash Park

The Tyler Fun Forest Park Pool was constructed in 1933 as an Olympic qualifying site and its main draw since then has been the outdoor 50-meter pool. Attendance usually peaks at a 100 around Memorial Day and drops off until closing in mid-August. No longer!

Along with the big pool, on a lower level, was a 20-foot by 30-foot "baby pool" which held water (sometimes) from 1'-0" to 2'-0" in depth. The pool was an old "draw and fill" pool meaning the water was replaced daily but not circulated through a filtration system or disinfected.

The City of Tyler elected last year to replace the baby pool with a splash pad and hired local engineer and regional aquatic specialist Terry Brannon of The C. T. Brannon Corporation to do the designs and gave him a full 30 days in which to do it! A water play ground was selected to replace the wading pool for several reasons:

There is no pooled water making it safer for small children
It is interactive and therefore more fun
It is more entertaining than a wading pool and will attract patrons
It is handicapped accessible
Less water volume means lower filtration and treatment costs.
The play ground can be operated on an extended season. In East Texas that can be from April to October.

Bids were taken and Texas Southwest Aquatics of Pasadena., Texas was awarded the $254,000 contract to install the new water playground.

Brannon's concept was to leave the old retaining walls, fences, curbs and decks in place and simply fill the old pool to match the deck. The new concrete deck would be placed right over the top, eliminating most of the demolition.

Brannon chose to divide the 5,000 s.f. playground into two parts. In the center of the old pool he placed an SCS Model 110 shown in the pictures as a kind of high 4-poster water fall with water features going out in all directions. This feature was chosen because

It is interactive. Each of the valves controls flow to one of the feature fountains or sprays an children can individually or collectively modify the fountain flow by setting the valves.
It is colorful. The baked on enamel coating is brilliant and attracts children.
The design of the SCS 110 makes it possible for the uses to spread out and not be so concentrated on the splash pad.
The soft plastic valve wheels protect children from injury.

Just outside the fence, Brannon designed a depressed pump pit and wet well to allow all the drains to flow by gravity. A 1,000 gallon per minute end suction pump powers the SCS unit while a smaller pump and filter circulates, chlorinates and returns the water to the wet well.

The other half of the design is an interactive splash pad. It incorporates four different fountain ideas in the corners of the square:

Three pop jets that shoot water 20 feet into the air in "pencil" streams.
Five "Daddy Long Legs" fountains that spray small streams in several arches at once about 8-feet high
A soft shell foam turtle slide/fountain from Superior Foam
A fire hydrant fountain.

An activation cone on the top of the fire hydrant activates one or more of the fountains at once in an owner selected sequence using a remote programmable controller. As the child touches the bollard, the spray sequence changes and different "toys" are activated.

The whole water play ground is wheel chair accessible. A new handicapped ramp was built as part of the project to connect the upper 50-meter pool with the lower play ground. The surface is ideal for younger, handicapped patrons.

Covering the entire water play ground is a soft, granular rubber surfacing installed by Advanced Surface Technologies, Austin, Texas. The high quality EPDM colored chips are held together and adhered to the concrete base by a water proof and UV stabilized binder. Thickness of the rubber could be held to 3/8" since there is no climbing apparatus.

The project was completed in the summer of 2002.

The photos show the testing of the equipment a day or so before opening. We had no sooner started the fountain at 10:00 a.m. than six kids were at the fence wanting to know when it would open! Its prominent location means it can be seen from all over the central-city, 20-acre Fun Forest Park.

Director of Tyler Parks and Recreation is Roy Crouch assisted by Tim Campbell, Recreation Superintendent. Deputy City Manager Bob Turner oversees the activities of the Park and Recreation program reporting directly to the city manager and city council.

"We want to see these kinds of parks all over Tyler," Mr. Crouch is quoted as saying. "The success of this particular prototype will strongly influence the city to move forward on other locations."

Tyler is a city of 85,000 people serving a population of over 250,000 in the counties surrounding. Known for its beautiful roses and the Tyler Junior College Apache Belles, it is one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S. Tyler boasts a tremendous medical and retirement community as well.

Tyler is situated half way between Shreveport, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas just off Interstate 20. The climate is generally temperate (translate 'hot'. . .up to 103 degrees in the summer) and humid (85% relative humidity). Winter usually lasts about a week. Spring sometimes seems even shorter! Swimming and water activities are essential in this environment.

If a water play ground or aquatic park is in your future. Call Terry Brannon at The Brannon Corporation. Telephone 1-800-256-2492 or email us at tbrannon@brannoncorp.com.