The final plans for Tietze Park pool. (City of Dallas)
Post by Sam Gillespie
At Ridgecrest Baptist Church, neighbors of Lakewood Heights and members of the Friends of Tietze Park gathered to see the final plans for the new Tietze Park Pool. The meeting was hosted by Paul Sims, Park Board member from District 14 and opened by David Mills, senior architect with the City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department
Before turning the meeting over to the primary consulting architect to discuss the details of the plans, Mills noted that all construction documents have been complete and are out for bid with a due date in mid-March. Six pools in the City of Dallas are scheduled for reconstruction over the next three years. The three larger pools — Crawford, Samuell Grand and Fretz — will see construction start in the fall of this year with completion scheduled for the summer of 2018. Tietze is in the next group of smaller venues and, along with Lake Highlands North and Kidd Springs, will be under reconstruction in the fall of 2018 to be reopened for the summer of 2019.
Mark Hatchel of Kimley Horn reviewed the new detailed site plan. The current one size fits all pool will be completely demolished to make way for a four lane lap pool, a children’s pool and a water slide with a “run-out,” not extending into either the lap or kid pool. The south side of the children’s pool will have a zero entry and spray features with a play structure in the middle of the pool. The lap pool will have steps leading into the water and also feature removable starting blocks for Tietze Torpedo racing meets. The climbing wall will also be replaced with a new challenging climbing surface.
The pool deck will be scored concrete with several cantilevered shade structures and umbrellas around the perimeter of the pool. There will be new grass planted on a lawn in the northeast corner. The fence will be replaced and all of the new construction will be in an area only slightly larger than the current size.
The city also engaged Nancy McCoy of Quimby McCoy as Preservation Architect to design new restrooms, a picnic pavilion, an office and a concession area to accompany the new pool. All of these spaces will be within the existing footprint of the 1930s-era sandstone structures. The concession area will feature drinks and snacks but no prepared meals. It will have two service counters available to both swimmers inside the pool fence and people just visiting the park for tennis, basketball, kick-ball, baseball, walking, running or kite-flying.
Funds for the construction of the new pools come from the 2015 sale of 257 acres of City of Dallas owned property adjacent to Lake Ray Hubbard to the City of Rowlett. The sale netted nearly $32 million and was entirely committed to the construction of the new pools.
