Dale City Waterworks on list of parks that need help
Waterworks Water Park in Dale City is missing its bubbler.
The central feature inside the kiddie pool at the popular swimming pool in Dale City no longer works. Now officials have allocated $300,000 to improve the water park, one of two in Prince William County, including Spalshdown Water Park outside Manassas.
“Another project that has come to the forefront is Waterworks,” said Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman, At-large Corey Stewart. “The facilities there, they’re in bad shape, there unusable at this point.”
That comment painted a dire picture of the 24-year-old water park on Dale Boulevard, one that hasn’t seen any major improvements since opening. But it’s the bubbler that’s not working.
“This year we had our primary childrens water feature, which we call a bubler, it went down,” said Prince William parks and recreation spokesman Brent Heavner. “And that really harms the enjoyment value of the pool… without the bubbler, we’ve got a baby pool.”
No, the bubbler has nothing to do with water quality or water filtration at the pool. It’s there for the fun and entertainment value, something that Heavner says the facility needs to improve.
“When you look at our competition, we can all agree it’s time to step up our facilities,” he added.
That competition would be parks in other counties to the north, like Fairfax County. About 90% of all costs to operate the swimming facilities is recouped by admission fees, which at Waterworks at $7 for adults, $5.75 for children, and those under 2-years-old get in free.
There are some other minor needed improvements at the park – none as serious as the bubbler – and they should be done by next summer. All upgrades to the swimming pool should be complete by the summer of 2016, said Heavner.
The improvements come as part of an overall approval of the transfer of about $12 million in new bonds to fund 28 park improvement projects at recreation centers across the county. Things like new turf and artificial turf fields will be added to middle schools, and new field lighting added to Veterans Memorial Park in Woodbridge.
A major improvement at Long Park in western Prince William, water and sewer lines to be run to the park and a new bathroom for visitor use, will cost $1.2 million and leave the park’s old septic system dormant.
“I want to thank you,” Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland told Stewart. “I know you’ve been a longtime advocate for parks across Prince William County and especially in the Gainesville District.”
It was a show of uncommon civility between the two officials who have created political theater while arguing over how to govern the county best. Candland voted against Stewart last year when he proposed to the board, and got a majority approval, to fund more than $3 million in improvements to athletic fields at schools in the central and eastern parts of the county.
One project that was pitched voters in 2006 as a possible improvement didn’t make the list. An expansion of the indoor swimming pools at Chinn Center in Woodbridge and the Lomond Community Center outside Manassas, slated to cost $11 million in 2006, will not happen. Late last year, school officials in Prince William approved the construction of a $98 million high school – the costliest that will ever be build in Virginia. It will include a swimming pool that will be open for public use.
