Walnut Creek is about to revamp a popular park with a recent voter-approved tax that's generating tens of millions of dollars for the project.
The city council recently approved a conceptual design for combining Heather Farm Park's swim center and community center.
Both buildings are more than 50 years old and are currently on opposite sides of the park.
The new swim center would be north of the central playground, changing the topography of the park, including reducing the size of the fishing pond to make room for the new pools.
The project, which would be one of the largest in city history, will cost roughly $77 million. It will be heavily funded by tax revenue generated from Measure O, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters this past November to address, among other items, aging infrastructure.
"The city is next going to be engaging in a process to select an architect for this project," said Kevin Safine, Walnut Creek's director of arts and recreation. "Once we have an architect on board, which will probably happen in the spring or summer, then there will be a fair amount of work about the specifics of visuals, of how the facility might look, some of the specific components of it. There will be opportunities for the public to weigh in. It will come to some of our commission meetings and then ultimately to the city council."
City officials said the new pool could bring additional swim meets to town, which means more people staying at hotels and eating at local restaurants.
Local
The current pool will remain open during construction, but the community center will be closed during that time.
The goal is to begin construction in 2025, with the hope of wrapping things up by 2027.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
