The desire for a splash pad was prompted by local families and a group of individuals who would later become members of the newly formed Splash Pad Committee. The members of the committee are Kris Morrissey, Sharon King, Lori Mills, Deb LaBonte, and Lori Thompson. This committee came about because there was a lot of buzz in the community, from mostly families, who saw splash pads being installed at other places in the state. Splash Pads are a great way to cool off in the hot Arizona summer months and are at town parks, hotels, resorts, and RV parks. Then the committee approached the Town Council asking them to recognize their committee and their purpose. The Council gave their blessing to the Splash Pad Committee and they were off and running.
The initial research was done by Lori Mills, who contacted 30+ towns to find out how each of them went about building their water feature. She discovered data including initial costs, maintenance cost, water consumption, etc. Taking into account water, sewer, restroom proximity, and access to an electrical source, they believed that Green Valley Park would be the best location to accommodate the project. Green Valley Park was more family oriented, especially with the recent update to the playground. More research pointed them to a space on the East side of the restrooms, next to the playground. This was the perfect spot, and was designated for the project.
Painted Sky Engineering volunteered to walk the space with the committee and help them understand the logistics of putting a splash pad in that area. They were looking to use an area of approximately 3,000 sq/ft. The pad itself is smaller, but includes an over-splash area. The committee met with the Sanitation Department to discuss their options, and found that the selected area had the proper drainage needed. Then they met with the Water Department and APS. This helped the committee know what would need to be done before beginning work. Most of the needed elements (water, electricity, sewer) were there, so from an engineering stand point the proposed spot was also the most ideal.
When the committee met with APS, the Sanitary District, and the Water Department each looked at the space, and were optimistic about the possibilities. It is contiguous to the playground as well as the restroom. This was important because there will be legislation coming soon regulating the distance of a splash pad to a restroom. They must be close, so by putting the splash pad in this space, it will be ahead of those regulations.
Lori Thompson was a huge help with her town recreation experience. She said, “The most challenging element was obviously the cost. Because these are custom-built for each location, it’s not easy to get an accurate estimate.” There were two major cost drivers: the size and the amount of water needed.
The water features were also a cost factor. Operation cost is dependent on the water features. There are many different kinds of water features, from dumping buckets to spray cannons. A single feature can cost up to $50,000. That obviously was not a recommendation from the committee. The proposed plan would cost approximately $200,000 to put the pad in place along with 4-6 water features. Of course, there is a lot of “wiggle room” in there, so that was an estimated cost. When the Town takes over the project, they would have the freedom to choose the water features that would like and are within budget.
The maintenance would cost between $15,000-$25,000 each season. This is a rough approximate, as the research was inconclusive because there weren’t any towns that had this expense as an individual cost in their budget. It was simply a part of their parks budget.
The Splash Pad serves the Town’s community, it’s on Town property, and it would be maintained by the Town, so it should be paid for by the Town. Snowflake and Holbrook received grants via National Parks and Recreation for projects like the Splash Pad. Courtney Spawn commented, “We would still have to have the revenue place in line, in budget, to accept a grant. We could not go out today and apply for and accept a grant because there’s nowhere to put it. It has to be approved in the budget before hand.”
Stay tuned for updates on the progress!
