ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutch Rec Board held a special meeting to go over the recently completed aquatic study last week. The study was held to find out a direction that the city should take to improve its outdoor facilities.
“We are trying to figure out where to go with the aquatic master plan.” Hutch Re4c Director Tony Finlay said. “We just felt like it was time to have a special meeting with the board to discuss where I was at with the plan and get some direction from them.”
The study covered a wide range of topics from the location of the current outdoor pool to finding ways to improve its use and attendance. Now that the study is done, it's time for all of the parties to come together and go over the study’s findings.
“The information that we’re getting from the public is at a point that we need to sit down with the rec commission board and the city council and really talk through what the expectation is for outdoor aquatics,” Finlay said.
The main topic of discussion centered around the underused Salt City Splash pool in Carey Park. The pool is underused due mostly to its location in the far southern part of the city. Busy streets and three sets of railroad tracks often deter younger pool users from visiting.
“The first big point is that we’re meeting the level of service in Hutchinson as far as attendance at the aquatic center,” Finlay said. “With the population and demographics we have in Hutchinson we should be seeing 50 to 55 thousand visits to the aquatic center.”
Attendance at the splash has been averaging around 30 thousand visits for the past ten years, according to Finlay.
How to fix that problem and address the useful life left in the pool at Carey Park means all options are open.
“In my mind everything is on the table,” Finlay said. “It really is just where our elected officials would like us to go.”
Finlay says now that the study is complete it is up to the City Council to give Hutch Rec direction.
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