Niland: Great turnout at public meeting, new ideas for westside pool

A new swimming pool expected to be built at Galatzan Park in west El Paso is making a splash.

The design phase of the new Westside Regional Pool is underway, but not before city officials asked for input from residents.

City Representative Cortney Niland and other city officials held the meeting at the Galatzan Recreation Center Wednesday evening. Niland said it was a great turnout.

“I loved the fact that we were able to interact with the community. Right here – first hand. The data was very reflective for the sake of transparency so that you know, ‘hey we heard you.’ We documented it. We know what you want and we’re going to go out and make it happen,” she told ABC-7.

Niland said the site for the pool has been selected next to the current Leo Cancellare Pool at 650 Wallenberg Drive. It will be transformed into a warm up and cool down pool during competitions.

The new 50 meter pool will have eight long course lanes and 22 short course lanes. It is expected to fit 420 swimmers and 840 spectators.

Other amenities include professional scoreboards, WiFi and spectator seating.

The initial idea to build a competition-style pool came from previous public meetings where the city’s swimming community told officials they wanted to see more pools, Niland said.

Coaches and parents of swimmers told Niland and officials the city has great athletes with potential, but not enough facilities.

“They were so convincing, we actually said, ‘we’re going to need to put one on the west side and the east side,'” said Niland.

The Westside Regional Pool is expected to cost $8 million to complete, yet another project from the 2012 Quality of Life Bond approved by voters.

The contract to design the pool was awarded to In*Situ Architecture firm.

Construction will begin once the design phase is completed and approved by city council.

Residents can still submit ideas for the Westside Regional Pool, click here.