CLEARFIELD — Recreation in Clearfield city will sport many new features later this year — a new indoor swimming pool, skateboard park, gymnasium, enhanced Fisher Park and more.
A new Clearfield municipal indoor swimming pool is now more than 70 percent complete, and a June 1 opening is anticipated.
According to Tracy Heun, Clearfield recreation director, this will replace the city's current pool, constructed in 1962.
"The old pool will be demolished," Heun said. A skateboard park will be opened on the old pool site by the fall of 2005.
The current pool is located west of Clearfield High School at 934 S. 1000 East. The new pool under construction is just to the northwest in another section of Fisher Park, closer to North Davis Junior High School.
Heun said Clearfield students/athletes will have to walk a little further than before but will maintain handy access to the facilities. Besides a six-lane pool that will be slightly larger than the city's current pool, the new pool will be a perfect rectangle, rather than the current irregular design. However, unlike the current pool that includes a high diving board, this one will only have a one-meter diving board. The pool will have a maximum depth of 12 feet.
Also included is a separate, adjacent family pool. This one will be a maximum of 42 inches deep and include a 16-foot slide. There's also a hot tub and spa and some treadmills. All in all, Heun agrees it will be a mini-recreation center.
An outside wading pool, a maximum of 18 inches deep, will also be included but will not open until the summer of 2006.
Another portion of the project is a shared city/Davis School District gymnasium. Located next to the current North Davis Junior High campus, it will connect with the new swimming pool.
This gymnasium, similar to the one Layton city opened two years ago next to the armory and Central Davis Junior High, will split in up to four sections for Junior Jazz basketball games. It all includes a small indoor jogging track, located above the gym floor, plus recreation offices.
Although Clearfield residents voted against extra taxes for a new swimming pool and related complex, the City Council used $11 million in revenue bonds to fund this project. Heun said $9 million go the pool and gymnasium and $1.5 million to Fisher Park improvements.
Fisher Park will gain lighted baseball fields, rest rooms and a concession area.
"We're terrifically excited about this," Heun said.
Clearfield's pool was the first major swimming pool in Davis County 42 years ago. It has been used by many north Davis and even Weber County residents over the years.
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