City pool opening delayed
By Lee Coleman
Well, so much for the Hazen City Pool opening on June 14.
With every effort by Dan Frei and the Parks and Recreation Department and Associated Pools being given to meet the goal of opening June 14, construction progress was thwarted when engineers found a problem under the entire pool deck area.
According to Frei, engineers said the clay under the deck was causing cracks. In essence, when the frost got deep into the ground, it froze the clay and caused a bucking and cracking scenario.
Seeking a solution, Frei was told the only answer was to dig up the entire deck and shovel out the clay, replacing it with sand that would not freeze, thus eliminating the bucking and cracking.
Because of this change in plans, Frei is cautiously optimistic the pool may be open by the Fourth of July. At this point, however, July 4 is only a target date.
“The engineers didn’t like our soil,” Frei said. “They want us to pull out five feet of dirt around the deck and replace it with expandable sand. We knew there were some issues under the decks but we did not anticipate this kind of problem.”
The new work will cost taxpayers $60,000 because the money for the pool construction was approved by voters who agreed to a one-half percent increase in sales tax to fund the original $600,000 project.
