Politics & Government

A Pool By 2015: Committee Tentatively Sets Calendar for New Underwood Pool

Town committee hope to have architect and a project manager by first week in November and a design and price tag by spring.

All journeys begin with a single step and Belmont starts down the road to building a new outdoor community pool today, Friday, Sept. 6 as the town's Department of Public Works places an ad in the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Central Register announcing the town is looking for an architect and project manager to design and build the pool.

The release of the ad was announced Thursday, Sept. 5, when the Underwood Pool Building Committee reviewed but did not approve a tentative calendar that goes from today's announcement to the opening of a new facility including a new bathhouse and pumping room. 

The tentative calendar has the pool opening for its 102nd season during the summer of 2014 with likely construction beginning in September 2014. After a delay during the winter, building will restart in the spring with a tentative opening date of June 2015.

Anne Paulsen, chair of the building committee, said the current pool – which opened only weeks after the "Titanic" sank in 1912 – will be more likely to receive needed variances and permits for numerous deficiencies from the State's Board of Health for the 2014 season when it observes the progress the town is making towards creating a new recreation space.

The next significant action by the town will be issuing an Request for Proposal on Sept. 16 for both a designer (usually an architect) and a project manager who will supervise the day-to-day building operation, said Paulsen.

The committee said the designer RFP should be worded that will give the architect a whiff of what the committee is seeking in a pool design "but not define it so much that they have a design all ready to deliver without input from [town]," said Peter Castanino, DPW's director.

In addition, the designer and contractor is expected to have a firm price tag for the new pool by mid-January. The current estimated cost of between $4.3 million to $4.5 million was determined by the architect firm Bargmann Hendrie & Archetype from one of three schematic design it produced for the town earlier this year.

Yet Town Administrator David Kale said he believed the estimate "is a fairly steady 
number" as it was done by experts in the field. 

While several on the committee believe that the amount the committee will set aside for design and construction cost will be enough, "we do want the best for that price but also that it will last" for more than 70 years, said Paulsen.

The committee's calendar foresees a debt exclusion vote by town residents at April's town election on April 1 to pay for the majority of the pool's estimated cost. Yet there has been discussion from other areas in town government that have suggested that the facility be paid from funds in the town's Community Preservation Act coffers and one-time monies from the sale of town property – the municipal parking off Trapelo Road and the Woodfall Road property – as well as fees from the construction of Cushing Village.

Important dates (tentative)

Friday, Sept. 6: 
Place ad in the Central Registry.

Monday, Sept. 16: Issue RFP for designer and project manager.

Monday, Sept. 30: Responses from project managers.

Friday, Oct. 4: Responses from design firms.

Thursday, Oct. 17: Interview project manager candidates and then select a winner. (Approve contract on Oct. 30).

Thursday, Oct. 23: Interview designer candidates and then select a winner. (Approve contract on Nov. 7)

Nov. 11 through Nov. 21: Public meeting to solicit information and suggestions form the public.

Monday, Jan. 27, 2014: A public presentation by the building committee before a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Warrant and Capital Budget committees, the Community Preservation Committee and other town committees.

Monday Feb. 3 or 10: The Board of Selectmen votes on the language and amount of a proposed debt exclusion.

Tuesday, April 1: Town election.

September 2014: Beginning of construction.

June 2015: Opening of the new pool.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Belmont