March 31, 2024 • 13 mins
In this episode of Henry's Dashboard Dialogues, we welcome a very special guest, Pat Hoagland, vice president of Branstetter Carroll Architects and Designers. He provides an in-depth discussion about the highly-anticipated new aquatic center in Glasgow, a project expected to significantly revitalize the city’s recreational amenities.
Pat explains the meticulous planning process that started in 2008, involving multiple stakeholders and public meetings. Through this, they identified residents' top priorities, which prominently included the creation of a family aquatic center. He highlights the center will not be a typical rectangular pool. Instead, it promises to offer a modern, family-friendly space with a multitude of amenities.
Apart from the aquatic center, the first phase also includes the addition of pickleball courts and walking tracks. Future phases promise the creation of a small dog park, a large picnic shelter, an outdoor fitness area, and a basketball court, aiming to make the park a comprehensive hub for recreation.
The discussion also touches on the need for keeping the pool closed during the construction phase for safety reasons. The demolition process will start as early as April this year, and the new center aims to open its doors by the summer of 2025.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:14):
Thank you once again for joining us today for Henry's Dashboard Dialogues.
It's where we look at some of the things that are on the horizon for our city
of Glasgow, some of the things that maybe need attention, some of the things
that have gotten attention.
And as we look across the dashboard today, we're looking into the future.
We have a very special guest on the Dashboard Dialogue program today,
(00:36):
looking into the future with somebody who actually knows how to see the future.
We're tickled to have Mr.
Pat Hoagland. Pat is the vice president of Branstetter Carroll Architects and Designers,
and he is the top man putting all of the touches on the new aquatic center that's coming to Glasgow.
(00:59):
We do have a whole team of people that are working on this. It's not just me.
Well, you know, it's a fascinating course. You are located in several cities.
You've got a bunch of people who work in your organization, and you all are
well-known and well-respected for the kinds of work that you do all over the United States.
And I'm just tickled to death that we have you working with us here in Glasgow.
(01:19):
We love working with you all there, too. Pat has been involved since the beginning
in a lot of different meetings where the plans are being laid down.
And I guess what I'd like to do is do a little handoff. Talk about, Pat, how we got here.
Started, we worked on a whole Parks and Recreation master plan for the entire
city of Glasgow back in 2008, 17, 18, finalized it in 2018.
(01:43):
And in that process, we had like 15 different stakeholder groups.
We had a few public meetings. There was a Hopkin Horses event and a workshop,
the council chambers and two different surveys, one that was mailed to a random
sample of households and another one that everybody could fill out.
We had really good response to all those meetings. And in that process,
(02:05):
we found out that fixing up the parks that you have and updating a new family
aquatic center are some of the top priorities of the residents there in Glasgow.
It's amazing to me how much work has already gone into this and some of the
interesting discoveries that you all found out in the survey process and just
(02:25):
sitting down and talking about it, Pat. Definitely.
One of the top things that came out, especially in the public open houses,
was building some new aquatic facilities.
It was at the top of people's minds. They really wanted, because the pool that you have now is very old.
They usually have a life of about 25, 30 years, and you're well beyond that.
And you look around at the newer, more modern family aquatic centers around
(02:50):
the state. We've designed a bunch of them, like Russell Sims Aquatic Center
over in Bowling Green is one. And that's actually been out there for a while now.
But another one in Richmond, Frankfurt and several others that we've designed
that have a lot more amenities for the families.
And that draws a lot more people than your old rectangles and L-shaped pools
(03:13):
that a lot of communities built in the 50s, 60s, and even in the 70s.
I like the fact that you bring that up because Branstetter Carroll is a name
that is well-respected and has designed a whole lot of wonderful facilities
in communities that we're all familiar with around here, too.
Is that right? Yeah, we've designed Kentucky and Ohio, where we have several offices.
(03:34):
We've done a lot, but we're branching out and getting known throughout the country.
We've got several pools in New Jersey, a few in Texas that are going in right
now, and in several other states that we've been working on them.
This has been a staple of our firm.
Two of the founders of the firm worked in another firm before they started Branch
that are Carroll, and that firm had started the wave pool technology.
(03:57):
So they've been involved with aquatic facilities for a long time.
Well, it's very impressive, and we're very glad to have you all involved in this project.
Now, I want to say this probably more than once in this particular podcast.
The Glasgow City Pool will not be open this summer.
That is by design, and I'm going to let you expand on that a little bit, Pat.
(04:21):
Sure. As we started looking around the city for the best places to put a new
aquatic center, Center, American Legion Park was still the best location,
but we didn't have enough room right along Happy Valley Road to do everything
we wanted to do that the people would want.
So anyway, at the same time, we found out that the softball field up at the
top of the hill in American Legion Park wasn't being used as much.
(04:44):
And that's a much better area to work with for developing this aquatic center,
which is going to have a bigger footprint because it's not just a rectangle
and an L. It's got a lot more other amenities to it.
So to do that, though, we've got to demolish pretty much everything in the park.
We're keeping as many trees as we can, but some of them are going to have to go.
(05:05):
We've got to demolish things before we can put the new things in.
So that package is already going out to bid.
It's already been advertised. So hopefully, beginning of April,
we'll have a contractor on board to start with the demolition.
And then by June, we hope to have a contractor on board to do the rest of the work in the park.
(05:26):
It's just too dangerous to have that kind of work going on while you're still
trying to entertain guests into an existing swimming pool.
That's the reason why that the pool really needs to be closed as inconvenient
as that's going to be for people.
And we understand that, but kind of the cost of getting it like we want the new pool to be. Right.
(05:48):
You've got the pool being so old, you've got to spend money every year just
to keep it going. And if you know you're going to be tearing it down,
you don't want to be investing a lot of money in it. We didn't put anything off.
This takes long enough. We were going to have to close the pool whenever we
got started. And it looks like we're going to get started real soon here, Pat.
Yeah, it does. That's exciting. It is real exciting. Because,
you know, we talked about this, you know, after doing the master plan in 2018.
(06:11):
And then it sat on the shelf for a little bit. And now it's re-energized to
where the city's ready to make the leap into doing this project.
Pat is very good at what he does. he's done a lot of these, but he gets excited.
I know you're excited about what this is going to become around here.
It's exciting to be able to listen to the people, find out what they want to
do, and then be able to try to implement that and have that vision that people
(06:34):
had come to reality. That's always exciting.
Talk about some of the highlights. Give me some exclamation points, all right?
Sure. Yeah, this, right now at that park, there's a camp building and a maintenance
building and the the ball field, and other things, all that's going to be combined into one.
So at the pool, there will be a really nice pool house with nice restrooms and concession stand,
(06:56):
but there's also going to be a camp room where that summer camp can take place,
but it also can be rented out, and it'll have glass garage doors that will open out onto the pool area.
So that'll be a nice amenity that can be used year-round for groups that want to have meetings.
So we have a separate entrance just to that room, so you can do that.
The aquatic center itself is going to have several features.
(07:19):
One is what we call a zero depth entry, just like entering into a beach.
So anybody can walk in to whatever depth they want and wheelchairs can easily
access the pool. And then there'll be an activity area with a small slide and
some sprays and things for kids to play in.
Another facility is a family slide. It's a wide slide so that whole families
(07:42):
can go down at once if they want to. And it's not real large.
Then we've got four lap lanes for people who do want to swim laps.
And for aerobic, you know, water aerobic exercises and those kind of things,
there'll be two water slides that sort of wrap around each other.
That'll be fun. And then what we call a lily pad bridge, which is,
(08:04):
you know, like foam lily pads with a rope above that you can climb across.
And that's especially good for some of those younger teenagers that like that.
And then also in the deeper end of the pool will be a climbing wall.
That you can climb up and then fall back into the water.
So those are a lot of fun. They'll have a lot of grass area and concrete area
(08:27):
for people to congregate and lay out in the sun and those kind of things.
Sure. Yes, it is a pool, but it's a lot more than just a pool with the ancillary
things, everything from the walking track to these areas where you can congregate around the pool.
And, of course, we don't want to forget Pickleball that's coming to American Legion Park also.
(08:50):
Right in the front where the pool is now, you'll have four Pickleball courts
in this first phase and a new parking lot in that area.
So in this first phase, you'll have the pool, the parking lots,
Pickleball courts, and some of the walking trail.
And then hopefully before too long, the city will be able to implement the next
phases, which is going to include a really small dog park, a large picnic shelter
(09:14):
down near the pickleball courts, and a fitness area.
There's one over in Bowling Green by the Russell Sims Aquatic Center that's
a lot of outdoor fitness area, almost like a gym.
And people really like that. And it'll have shade over it.
There's a restroom down near the pickleball courts that will be in the first
phase. Up the hill, the existing playground is going to stay,
(09:35):
but there'll be a new parking lot right next to it and then a basketball court near that.
And then in the rear of the park, where the existing shelter is in the far back
corner, that's going to be changed to a shelter with restrooms.
And then there's a trail around the perimeter of the entire park.
That's going to be at a grade on a slope that will be easily accessible for everybody as well.
(09:57):
There is going to be quite a bit of dirt work to be done in order to prepare
the site for this addition, correct?
That's true, yeah, especially in the rear portion of the park where the parking
lot for the aquatic center is going to take place. We're going to need to build a retaining wall.
And if you're familiar with the area, anybody that's been back in there,
(10:17):
they'll know that it's a pretty steep area. We have to shave off the top of that hill.
There's a lot of pavement in that area to make a parking lot that's big enough
for people to park the cars that are going to be expected for the aquatic center.
Let's talk about timeline.
The demolition should start probably later in April, beginning of May at the latest.
And then we've already got contractors going out there taking a look at things
(10:41):
before they put their bids in. And the other contract for the pool and the rest
of the work will be opening those bids beginning of June.
So hopefully we'll be starting the end of June with construction on the pool
and the pickleball courts and the parking lots and the roads and those elements.
And then shooting for an opening in the summer of 2025.
(11:04):
It may not be Memorial Day weekend, but as soon as possible after that,
we want to get it open indefinitely by July 4th.
And we've seen that with a lot of pools where we've been able to close a pool
and open it up the next year by July 4th.
It seems like that post-pandemic, everything seems to take a little bit longer to get it done.
(11:26):
Have you noticed that in your work? We have the lead time on some of these elements,
things like the water slide, electrical transformers, for example.
Some playground equipment, some shelter packages are taking a little longer than they used to.
They used to be a lot longer, but they're getting better in the real recent past year.
We're finally to the point that we can start getting excited and start watching it happen, Pat.
(11:49):
That's right. Right. We are going to have to close the pool because we have
to be able to safely do the demolition.
But that the plans are there and all we got to do is just make them fall into place.
And the man that has drawn them and had a whole lot of input into this,
Pat Hoagland with Brandstetter Carroll Architects and Designers.
And I appreciate you being with us on this program, Pat. It's going to be a
(12:12):
real nice park that really responds to what people told us that they'd like to see.
It's just not improving just the Aquatic Center, but the entire park as well.
And I know that the Parks and Recreation Department has been upgrading the playgrounds
and the facilities at a lot of other parks as well.
So it's great to see that the city has this master plan and they're implementing it piece by piece.
(12:33):
And that's exciting to see that the city's listening to what the people said
they wanted and making it happen.
Pat Hoagland with Branstetter Carol. Thanks for being with us today,
sir. And we look forward to seeing you around and checking the progress, okay?
That's another drive on Henry's Dashboard Dialogues for this.
Music.
Music.
(00:14):
Thank you once again for joining us today for Henry's Dashboard Dialogues.
It's where we look at some of the things that are on the horizon for our city
of Glasgow, some of the things that maybe need attention, some of the things
that have gotten attention.
And as we look across the dashboard today, we're looking into the future.
We have a very special guest on the Dashboard Dialogue program today,
(00:36):
looking into the future with somebody who actually knows how to see the future.
We're tickled to have Mr.
Pat Hoagland. Pat is the vice president of Branstetter Carroll Architects and Designers,
and he is the top man putting all of the touches on the new aquatic center that's coming to Glasgow.
(00:59):
We do have a whole team of people that are working on this. It's not just me.
Well, you know, it's a fascinating course. You are located in several cities.
You've got a bunch of people who work in your organization, and you all are
well-known and well-respected for the kinds of work that you do all over the United States.
And I'm just tickled to death that we have you working with us here in Glasgow.
(01:19):
We love working with you all there, too. Pat has been involved since the beginning
in a lot of different meetings where the plans are being laid down.
And I guess what I'd like to do is do a little handoff. Talk about, Pat, how we got here.
Started, we worked on a whole Parks and Recreation master plan for the entire
city of Glasgow back in 2008, 17, 18, finalized it in 2018.
(01:43):
And in that process, we had like 15 different stakeholder groups.
We had a few public meetings. There was a Hopkin Horses event and a workshop,
the council chambers and two different surveys, one that was mailed to a random
sample of households and another one that everybody could fill out.
We had really good response to all those meetings. And in that process,
(02:05):
we found out that fixing up the parks that you have and updating a new family
aquatic center are some of the top priorities of the residents there in Glasgow.
It's amazing to me how much work has already gone into this and some of the
interesting discoveries that you all found out in the survey process and just
(02:25):
sitting down and talking about it, Pat. Definitely.
One of the top things that came out, especially in the public open houses,
was building some new aquatic facilities.
It was at the top of people's minds. They really wanted, because the pool that you have now is very old.
They usually have a life of about 25, 30 years, and you're well beyond that.
And you look around at the newer, more modern family aquatic centers around
(02:50):
the state. We've designed a bunch of them, like Russell Sims Aquatic Center
over in Bowling Green is one. And that's actually been out there for a while now.
But another one in Richmond, Frankfurt and several others that we've designed
that have a lot more amenities for the families.
And that draws a lot more people than your old rectangles and L-shaped pools
(03:13):
that a lot of communities built in the 50s, 60s, and even in the 70s.
I like the fact that you bring that up because Branstetter Carroll is a name
that is well-respected and has designed a whole lot of wonderful facilities
in communities that we're all familiar with around here, too.
Is that right? Yeah, we've designed Kentucky and Ohio, where we have several offices.
(03:34):
We've done a lot, but we're branching out and getting known throughout the country.
We've got several pools in New Jersey, a few in Texas that are going in right
now, and in several other states that we've been working on them.
This has been a staple of our firm.
Two of the founders of the firm worked in another firm before they started Branch
that are Carroll, and that firm had started the wave pool technology.
(03:57):
So they've been involved with aquatic facilities for a long time.
Well, it's very impressive, and we're very glad to have you all involved in this project.
Now, I want to say this probably more than once in this particular podcast.
The Glasgow City Pool will not be open this summer.
That is by design, and I'm going to let you expand on that a little bit, Pat.
(04:21):
Sure. As we started looking around the city for the best places to put a new
aquatic center, Center, American Legion Park was still the best location,
but we didn't have enough room right along Happy Valley Road to do everything
we wanted to do that the people would want.
So anyway, at the same time, we found out that the softball field up at the
top of the hill in American Legion Park wasn't being used as much.
(04:44):
And that's a much better area to work with for developing this aquatic center,
which is going to have a bigger footprint because it's not just a rectangle
and an L. It's got a lot more other amenities to it.
So to do that, though, we've got to demolish pretty much everything in the park.
We're keeping as many trees as we can, but some of them are going to have to go.
(05:05):
We've got to demolish things before we can put the new things in.
So that package is already going out to bid.
It's already been advertised. So hopefully, beginning of April,
we'll have a contractor on board to start with the demolition.
And then by June, we hope to have a contractor on board to do the rest of the work in the park.
(05:26):
It's just too dangerous to have that kind of work going on while you're still
trying to entertain guests into an existing swimming pool.
That's the reason why that the pool really needs to be closed as inconvenient
as that's going to be for people.
And we understand that, but kind of the cost of getting it like we want the new pool to be. Right.
(05:48):
You've got the pool being so old, you've got to spend money every year just
to keep it going. And if you know you're going to be tearing it down,
you don't want to be investing a lot of money in it. We didn't put anything off.
This takes long enough. We were going to have to close the pool whenever we
got started. And it looks like we're going to get started real soon here, Pat.
Yeah, it does. That's exciting. It is real exciting. Because,
you know, we talked about this, you know, after doing the master plan in 2018.
(06:11):
And then it sat on the shelf for a little bit. And now it's re-energized to
where the city's ready to make the leap into doing this project.
Pat is very good at what he does. he's done a lot of these, but he gets excited.
I know you're excited about what this is going to become around here.
It's exciting to be able to listen to the people, find out what they want to
do, and then be able to try to implement that and have that vision that people
(06:34):
had come to reality. That's always exciting.
Talk about some of the highlights. Give me some exclamation points, all right?
Sure. Yeah, this, right now at that park, there's a camp building and a maintenance
building and the the ball field, and other things, all that's going to be combined into one.
So at the pool, there will be a really nice pool house with nice restrooms and concession stand,
(06:56):
but there's also going to be a camp room where that summer camp can take place,
but it also can be rented out, and it'll have glass garage doors that will open out onto the pool area.
So that'll be a nice amenity that can be used year-round for groups that want to have meetings.
So we have a separate entrance just to that room, so you can do that.
The aquatic center itself is going to have several features.
(07:19):
One is what we call a zero depth entry, just like entering into a beach.
So anybody can walk in to whatever depth they want and wheelchairs can easily
access the pool. And then there'll be an activity area with a small slide and
some sprays and things for kids to play in.
Another facility is a family slide. It's a wide slide so that whole families
(07:42):
can go down at once if they want to. And it's not real large.
Then we've got four lap lanes for people who do want to swim laps.
And for aerobic, you know, water aerobic exercises and those kind of things,
there'll be two water slides that sort of wrap around each other.
That'll be fun. And then what we call a lily pad bridge, which is,
(08:04):
you know, like foam lily pads with a rope above that you can climb across.
And that's especially good for some of those younger teenagers that like that.
And then also in the deeper end of the pool will be a climbing wall.
That you can climb up and then fall back into the water.
So those are a lot of fun. They'll have a lot of grass area and concrete area
(08:27):
for people to congregate and lay out in the sun and those kind of things.
Sure. Yes, it is a pool, but it's a lot more than just a pool with the ancillary
things, everything from the walking track to these areas where you can congregate around the pool.
And, of course, we don't want to forget Pickleball that's coming to American Legion Park also.
(08:50):
Right in the front where the pool is now, you'll have four Pickleball courts
in this first phase and a new parking lot in that area.
So in this first phase, you'll have the pool, the parking lots,
Pickleball courts, and some of the walking trail.
And then hopefully before too long, the city will be able to implement the next
phases, which is going to include a really small dog park, a large picnic shelter
(09:14):
down near the pickleball courts, and a fitness area.
There's one over in Bowling Green by the Russell Sims Aquatic Center that's
a lot of outdoor fitness area, almost like a gym.
And people really like that. And it'll have shade over it.
There's a restroom down near the pickleball courts that will be in the first
phase. Up the hill, the existing playground is going to stay,
(09:35):
but there'll be a new parking lot right next to it and then a basketball court near that.
And then in the rear of the park, where the existing shelter is in the far back
corner, that's going to be changed to a shelter with restrooms.
And then there's a trail around the perimeter of the entire park.
That's going to be at a grade on a slope that will be easily accessible for everybody as well.
(09:57):
There is going to be quite a bit of dirt work to be done in order to prepare
the site for this addition, correct?
That's true, yeah, especially in the rear portion of the park where the parking
lot for the aquatic center is going to take place. We're going to need to build a retaining wall.
And if you're familiar with the area, anybody that's been back in there,
(10:17):
they'll know that it's a pretty steep area. We have to shave off the top of that hill.
There's a lot of pavement in that area to make a parking lot that's big enough
for people to park the cars that are going to be expected for the aquatic center.
Let's talk about timeline.
The demolition should start probably later in April, beginning of May at the latest.
And then we've already got contractors going out there taking a look at things
(10:41):
before they put their bids in. And the other contract for the pool and the rest
of the work will be opening those bids beginning of June.
So hopefully we'll be starting the end of June with construction on the pool
and the pickleball courts and the parking lots and the roads and those elements.
And then shooting for an opening in the summer of 2025.
(11:04):
It may not be Memorial Day weekend, but as soon as possible after that,
we want to get it open indefinitely by July 4th.
And we've seen that with a lot of pools where we've been able to close a pool
and open it up the next year by July 4th.
It seems like that post-pandemic, everything seems to take a little bit longer to get it done.
(11:26):
Have you noticed that in your work? We have the lead time on some of these elements,
things like the water slide, electrical transformers, for example.
Some playground equipment, some shelter packages are taking a little longer than they used to.
They used to be a lot longer, but they're getting better in the real recent past year.
We're finally to the point that we can start getting excited and start watching it happen, Pat.
(11:49):
That's right. Right. We are going to have to close the pool because we have
to be able to safely do the demolition.
But that the plans are there and all we got to do is just make them fall into place.
And the man that has drawn them and had a whole lot of input into this,
Pat Hoagland with Brandstetter Carroll Architects and Designers.
And I appreciate you being with us on this program, Pat. It's going to be a
(12:12):
real nice park that really responds to what people told us that they'd like to see.
It's just not improving just the Aquatic Center, but the entire park as well.
And I know that the Parks and Recreation Department has been upgrading the playgrounds
and the facilities at a lot of other parks as well.
So it's great to see that the city has this master plan and they're implementing it piece by piece.
(12:33):
And that's exciting to see that the city's listening to what the people said
they wanted and making it happen.
Pat Hoagland with Branstetter Carol. Thanks for being with us today,
sir. And we look forward to seeing you around and checking the progress, okay?
That's another drive on Henry's Dashboard Dialogues for this.
Music.
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