Inside Arvada

Inside the new Arvada Aquatics Center

• City of Arvada • Season 1 • Episode 16

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to bring a state-of-the-art aquatics center to life? Want to know when the new Arvada Aquatics Center will open?

Tune in to hear it here first, the grand opening of the Arvada Aquatics Center is just around the corner! The new facility promises to be an amazing asset for local swim teams and regional meets, boasting a 50-meter competitive pool, a 25-yard auxiliary pool, and an impressive dive well. Plus, it's designed with sustainability in mind, achieving a silver LEED certification.

Join us for a conversation with Hillary Romersberger, the Director of Recreation Services for Apex Park and Recreation District. Hillary shares her extensive expertise and passion for community recreation. She details how this project wouldn't be possible without the strong collaboration between the City of Arvada, Apex, and Jeffco Public Schools. 

For more information about the Arvada Aquatics Center visit the City of Arvada's project page. In the future, information about programming at the facility will be available on the Apex website. 

Also in this episode: 

Visit us at ArvadaCO.gov/Podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's podcast, where we bring you conversations with the people who make Arvada a thriving community. Hear stories about the past, present and future of Arvada through the lens of the city team members who help make it all happen. Explore the complex topics impacting our community, From the roads you drive to the water you drink, the parks where you play to what your neighbors think. Join us as we take you Inside Arvada. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's official podcast. This week we have on Hilary Romersberger. She is the Director of Recreation Services for Apex Park and Recreation District. She has over 15 years of experience, with an extensive background in the field of parks and recreation. She is a certified park and recreation professional, as well as has a certification in aquatic facility operations and a master's degree in recreation management. Most importantly, just like Sean and I, she is a fellow CSU Ram and, as always, I'm joined by my co-host today, Sean Starr. Hey, Sean.

Speaker 2:

Hey Katie. Yes, great to have another Ram guest. That's two in a row, so go Rams. And it was really enjoyable to have Hillary on as the guest for today's episode, especially when I enjoyed the way she explained the relationship between Apex and the city, particularly in the parks and recreation roles, and that she described that Apex has more of the active recreation and, like the rec centers, and the city takes care of more of the passive recreation, so our parks and our trails. So to learn more about those roles and the opening of the new Ararat Aquatic Center, let's listen to their interview with Hillary. Hi, hillary, thanks so much for joining us today. We'll begin by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do for Apex Park and Recreation.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yourself and what you do for Apex Park and Recreation? Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. So my name is Hilary Romersberger. I'm the Director of Rec Services for Apex Park and Recreation District. I currently oversee several facilities, including the Seacrest Recreation Center, fitzmorris Recreation Center and the soon-to-be Arvada Aquatic Center that'll be opening up here soon. I also oversee our aquatics department, our licensed programming and fitness and wellness for the district.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, we're so excited to have you on today. So I mean, for lack of no lack of bad puns, I'm going to dive into the deep end here.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, let's get our feet wet.

Speaker 1:

So the city, in partnership with Jeffco, public Schools and Apex, are constructing the New Arvada, the new aquatic center, opening soon. Any updates you can give us?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we're getting really excited. We're kind of in the homestretch of the project here, so awaiting. We're hoping our TCO here probably in the next week or so Real excited and we're targeting an opening date of Saturday November 23rd for our general public and we're targeting an opening day of Saturday November 23rd for our general public. We've got a lot of cool things planned as far as partnerships with the schools and the city, as well as some of our swim partners and our dive team partners. So we're really excited about that. You know we do anticipate kind of a slow roll. Our outdoor, our swim teams, have been outdoors this entire time. We still have outdoor pools open, believe it or not, and we're looking forward to getting those closed. So we will probably start to see a slow trickle of getting our swimmers, our swim teams, back in. High school swim season is right around the corner. They start November 18th, so we'll start to kind of slow trickle some of our swimmers in and then we're looking forward to welcoming the whole public on November 23rd.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's an exciting date. Pencil it on your calendars.

Speaker 2:

I was going to say. That's breaking news on Inside Arvada here November 23rd.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you heard it here first.

Speaker 2:

So, when it does open, what are some highlights of the new facility that folks can expect?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so this is really a state-of-the-art facility and it's such a cool thing to have this in our community. It will rival VMAC, which is probably the closest thing in the Denver Metro region, but we will host a 50-meter competitive pool and we'll also have a 25-yard auxiliary pool, which kind of sets us apart. We also will have a state-of-the-art dive well, our partners at Pools for Kids helped us with some funding and we'll have a five meter platform, a three meter platform and one meter springboard. So nobody really around the area. Air Force is probably the closest comparison. So we're really, really excited to have something like this in our neighborhood and in our community. On top of that, we have enhanced spectator seating. We'll actually host one more seat than VMAX, so a little bit bigger than they are, but universal changing rooms, really great spectator and it's just a beautiful, beautiful building. If you were ever in the old one, it was older, it was dark. This one is super bright and just full of life and we're just really excited about it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think I had heard that divers when they need to practice on those bigger platforms like that, not a diver, so kind of speaking out of my territory here, but they would travel. They'd have to like reserve time in either Colorado Springs or Laramie maybe.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's correct, and they compete in quite a few meets, I think down in like Arizona and California. So we're really thinking that this will provide us an opportunity to host some really cool regional meets and see some really great hopefully maybe future Olympians.

Speaker 1:

So yeah that's awesome and we didn't mention that it's also a lead. It's going to meet silver lead certification.

Speaker 3:

That is correct. I know that that was a really important initiative for the city of Arvada as co-owners on this facility, and it's remarkable. It's really hard. Pools are not usually the most energy-efficient facilities, so to be able to achieve that silver lead certification is a big deal.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, kind of stepping back a little bit. This is the new Myers pool, kind of to provide some additional context for folks listening, and it's located over there, kind of Club Crest area, near Target, is kind of like the landmark that I use often to reach into people.

Speaker 3:

So it's yeah, it's actually located in the same spot as the old one, and so where the old one was is now the parking lot, and so the building is facing to the south now. So we're really excited to have it and we're able to keep it in its old spot, because it's 50 something year old pool. It's really a lot. It means a lot to a lot of people in the community yeah and um.

Speaker 1:

so we wanted to have you on because you play a key role in operating the new facility, and so tell us a little bit about what the new programming and enhancements for the operations will look like for folks.

Speaker 3:

a pool that hosts, you know, our high school teams, our club teams, our club diving teams, but with that 25-yard pool it will be opening or will allow us to open up ourselves a little bit more programmatically. You know, we've always had swim lessons at the old facility, but with this new one we're really focusing in on things like stroke clinics and higher level swim lessons where kids can really work on and not just kids, adults as well can work on technique and that kind of thing. We hope to see an expansion of our master swim team. We've had a really, really successful master's team in the past and so we're really hoping that we can expand that with more lap space. Diving, too, will be a major key thing in this facility, just because, as we talked about, nobody else in this area kind of has it. So we think we'll be welcoming a lot more different kind of style of meets and just some larger regional events. We hope.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's awesome. And for folks that don't know what you're kind of alluding to is like at the old facility it was just one pool and so you'd have like high school lap or high school swim team going and then like next thing over little kids trying to learn to swim, and so that secondary, smaller facility pool will help to kind of separate those. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And you know, I think our smaller children will appreciate it too that secondary pool will be to kind of separate those. Yeah, and you know, I think our smaller children will appreciate it too that secondary pool will be a little bit warmer. So it'll be a little bit warmer for aqua fitness participants that require a little bit warmer water. But our little kiddos my daughter did her swim lessons there when she was like five or six and I remember her coming out with like the purple lips because that competition pool is colder. So that will allow us to really expand some programming there as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's awesome. I know when we were asking for community stories of memories of the pool and everything to be able to kind of capture that information, a lot of it was around, like I first learned to swim here and then I was on swim team and then my kids learned to swim here and so that generational history is pretty cool and it'll be cool to carry that on.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's very cool for our lifeguards too. You know a lot of them have learned to swim at Myers Pool and then have come up and work for us and then go off to college and then hopefully we'll see a lot of familiar faces when we open up on November 23rd.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, fewer blue lips now. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You mentioned already a little bit that this is a partnership. This project has been a partnership between us and the city, you all at Apex and then as well as Jeffco Public Schools, and it's really all come together very well and tip of the hat to you for managing that with because that's no small feat and having those three sort of organizations all work together. Can you expand a little bit on how those roles were divvied up and who did what? And to make this a reality?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So it's been a really cool partnership and it shows we can do really cool things when key partners come together. So essentially the city of Arvada as well as Jeffco Public Schools are co-funding the project and then Apex will be the day-to-day operators. So we'll kind of take on the expenses when it comes to staffing, operating and that kind of thing, and so it has been a three-way partnership. I think now we've been probably at this now for what feels like close to three years from when we agreed on the IGA to design to where we're at now. So you know, we've all kind of been in it together for the last couple years, working together for, you know, design and then just operational implications and things like that. So it's been a really very cool partnership. Really appreciated the getting to work so closely with folks from both the school district as well as the city of Arvada. It's been a really cool opportunity.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that's great and at the groundbreaking I know the athletic director for the school district talked about kind of like how for them schools are kind of hard to come to and there aren't a ton of them and so having that locally kind of facility for them as a big makes a big difference for their swim teams.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, competitive pools are kind of hard to come by there aren't. There aren't a whole lot kind of in this area, and this is really actually just a unique project for me as a Parks and Rec professional too. I'm definitely used to being more on the like fun, open swim, like recreation side. To be able to design something like this has been definitely once in a lifetime opportunity for me. This pool will host five local high schools so, and we anticipate hosting the large state meet, which will be really exciting because we have not had the state meet in Arvada in quite some time, so we're looking forward to that as well. That's really cool.

Speaker 2:

I was going to say it'll kind of be similar to the Apex Tennis Center, right, and that's a facility that the city owns and funded, but then Apex operates and manages the day-to-day.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we actually have a couple projects like that. Most closely, we just worked on the renovation of Lake Arbor Pool, so that's a really good example of a facility that is owned by the city of Arvada but is operated by Apex, and so we worked actually really well together this summer as well on getting that renovated getting it back up and running, because it was sorely missed in the Lake Arbor community for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you were kind of already answering this question, but is there anything else that you're most excited for about this new facility?

Speaker 3:

Oh, I don't know, like we're just so excited to see it open. Like I said, we've been at this now for a couple of years and to see it finally come to fruition. This has been a project that's been long talked about, even long before my tenure. I started with Apex about six and a half years ago and they were talking about, ooh, one day we might redo the Myers pool, and so to see it finally come to fruition is very exciting kind of for all of us. But I'm just really just excited to just see what the future kind of brings. Like I said, I think there will be a real great opportunity to host some meets that in the past we haven't been able. Just to have the CHASA state meet back in Arvada would be a really, really cool thing.

Speaker 2:

And then, before we let you go with the lightning round, we provide our guests with the opportunity to clear up maybe some misconceptions about some of the work you do or just some clarifying an opportunity to clarify some of the work that you do, because you know the city and the parks department obviously work really closely with Apex but we are separate sort of organizations that are partners.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think that that is kind of a common misconception in our community. Apex is what is referred to as a special district, which essentially means taxpayers pay Apex an extra, a special tax that's dedicated just to parks and rec. You don't see that everywhere. There are certainly a lot of municipalities that have parks and rec kind of within them. The way we best compare it to or help clarify to the public is that the city of Arvada handles all of what we call our passive recreation. So that's your fields, parks, trail system where we handle all the active recreation which is more like sports programming, fitness. We have the big rec centers and the fun outdoor swimming pools. So I think sometimes people get a little bit confused on how that works. But having said that, we still have to work really well together. We couldn't have our sports leagues if we didn't have the city of Arvada's fields and baseball fields and things like that.

Speaker 3:

So I myself am an avid runner, so I run on the trails all of the time and so you know, I think that that is kind of a misconception in our community of like what's the role of Apex and what's the role of the city of Arvada? You know, I think even within apex right. Everybody thinks of the apex center, everybody knows the apex center. It's a huge regional draw. But sometimes people don't recognize that Seacrest or the Arvada Tennis Center, things like that, are also associated with apex. So sometimes we have our own. You know, people get confused a little bit about who we are and they just assume we're just the one big building.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and vice versa. Like, the city has over 100 parks or park destinations, but we wouldn't be serving the community fully from a well-being perspective without all the facilities and active recreation opportunities that Apex provides. So it's a great partnership and makes living in Arvada. We often ask guests what's their favorite thing, and it's the parks and trails, and Apex is a huge part of that. So thank you so much, Hillary, for joining us. Apex is a huge part of that. So thank you so much, Hillary, for joining us For our listeners.

Speaker 1:

As a reminder, you can learn more at the city's webpage arvadacogov slash Arvada Aquatic Center to learn more particularly about details about the grand opening there on Saturday, November 23rd, yeah, and then as far as like future programming, hours of operation, that sort of information, as the pool actually gets open, it'll be on Apex's website. So another moment of distinction there, where it's on the city's website for the grand opening and kind of the history of the construction and all of that stuff. Lots of cool photos and videos up there. But going forward, then we'll point people to Apex for the details of when they can go to open lap swim and that sort of thing. Yeah, very good. So before we let you go, I'm going to do our lightning round quick questions to help our listeners get to know you a little bit better. So what is your favorite thing about Arvada?

Speaker 3:

This can be a place fact, or even a hidden gem.

Speaker 3:

That's tough, you know. I live in Arvada, so I'm happy to be in a community in which I serve, so there are a lot of things I really like, but I think I'll go back to the trail systems. Like I said, I'm a pretty avid runner. I'm getting ready to do a race here in a couple weeks and so I spend a lot, a lot, a lot of time on the trail systems here. So I love doing that. We're a very active family, so I love having my kids be able to play and kind of recreate where I work. So I would say, yeah, access to the trail systems and just some of the cool recreation amenities we have in this community.

Speaker 1:

Fitting. What is your first, best or last concert?

Speaker 3:

Oh gosh. So I don't get out to a whole lot of concerts, but I think my last one I saw Billy Strings. So not usually the type of music I gravitate to, but I think he's just such an amazing artist. He's so talented and he's so young and he just puts on a great show. So I think that that's probably I think just my last and probably one of my best as well, that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

What brought you to Arvada?

Speaker 3:

So actually the job with Apex. So prior to working with Apex, I worked for the town of Parker for 10 years and then there was an opportunity that opened up with Apex, the role in kind of which I am now. My role has changed a little bit but, as I stated earlier, I think it's really important to live where you serve, and so it was really important that when I got the job that we become Arvada residents, you know, and my kids participate in our programs. So that's what actually brought me up here. My husband is actually from the area. He grew up in Westminster, so right over at Stanley Lake there. So it's kind of been a coming home for him too. So he's appreciated being closer to home and we run into his old friends from high school all the time.

Speaker 1:

I love that. I love that Like live where you serve.

Speaker 3:

That's great. What was your first job? So my first job I worked in apparel at it was Gart Sports. Then I think it became a sports authority at some point. But I actually didn't grow up in the Colorado area, so I was out in the Seattle area. But then when I came and moved here I got a job at Gart's because that's where it started was, in Colorado, so that I did that for a couple of years through college and then really like lived the best posh lifestyle working at the school, the CSU bookstore, so it's a good job and, last but not least, what's your favorite project you've done with Apex or in the city?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think it's going to have to be this one when it's done, but I've actually been a part of some really cool projects with Apex in my tenure here. I would say second to this one would be Seacrest Park, so adjacent to our rec center. We also got the opportunity to build a park and it included one of our or our own first like fully inclusive playground. So that was an effort that was kind of near and dear to my heart and I don't come from a playground design background, so it gave me an opportunity to learn something new. So I would say that one. But I think Arvada Aquatic Center is probably going to take the cake here when it's all said and done.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. Well, Hilary, thank you so much for coming on today and talking with us about the new Aquatic Center. We can't wait to see it for ourselves.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we're excited to have you guys and thank you for having me on. This has been fun.

Speaker 1:

As a reminder, we love to hear from our listeners. You can stay in touch with us by texting us there's a link at the top of the show notes of every episode or by emailing us at podcast at arvadaorg. We love to hear your feedback about what you're enjoying listening to, what you'd like to see more of or see differently, any questions you have, episode ideas and anything else you just want to share with us and some news coming up here Right now. The city's annual community survey is open at arvadasurveycom. The results of the survey are really key in helping guide the management and decision-making that happens throughout the city, so be sure to make your voice heard as a part of that survey. Again, that's arvadasurveycom and we'll put a link to that in the show notes. And then Connecting Arvada, which is the city's first comprehensive transportation system plan, is going to be doing a final round of feedback here soon. They've worked on the last over the last year on creating a list of priorities and recommendations for planning for the next 20 plus years of transportation opportunities and improvements for the city, and so keep an eye out on that. That should be coming out here really soon. They're just working on finalizing the web page and all of that, and so we'll have more information for you on that really soon here.

Speaker 1:

And then Leaf Recycling Drop-Off is coming. It starts this Saturday, november 2nd, and will run through November 16th at Stinger Sports Complex, and so the event is open Mondays through Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm, but closed on Sundays. And, just as a reminder, often Saturdays are the busiest, as you can imagine, and so just be prepared, if you want to go on a Saturday, to wait a little bit longer, but you can come during the week and skip the lines. This event is open to all Arvada residents. Just be prepared to show proof of residency and then be prepared to empty those bags of leaves. Even the paper or compostable bags will have to be emptied into the leaf piles and changed from last year. This year the entrance is going to be off 58th Avenue and then you'll exit onto Oak Street, and so that's just to help improve flow of traffic. They'll have plenty of signage on site for that, and you can find a map on our website arvatacogov slash leaf dash recycling. And then, sean, a couple more things you have going on.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, a couple sustainability-related initiatives. The city is working on One that we've mentioned several times throughout the year the Climate Action and Sustainability Plan Open House is coming up on Thursday, november 14th at the Arvada Library in Old Town and that'll be the final opportunity for community members to provide input on the plan before it goes to City Council for adoption in December. And then also, sustainability is working on a Waste Diversion Action Plan, and so that'll be related and really intertwined with the climate action plan, and the goal of that is to just cut down on the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, and so to learn more about that plan, you can visit the webpage at arvadagov slash waste diversion. And thanks again to our guest today, hilary Romzenberger.

Speaker 2:

Be sure to listen to our next episode, where we'll have on the city's director of utilities, sharon Israel, and we'll be talking about adjustments to water, sewer and stormwater, customer rates and fees in 2025, as well as all the fantastic work that our utilities department does here in the city. To stay in touch with the podcast, you can visit our webpage at arvaticcogov slash podcast and you can subscribe on whichever podcast platform you prefer Apple, spotify, youtube or any number of other podcast platforms and you can always reach out to us at podcast at arvadaorg to ask us questions or suggest show episodes or provide feedback and just say hello. And today the producer of today's podcast was Arvada Media Services producer, james Long, and I'll leave you with this fun fact that it took nearly 1 million gallons of water to fill the new Arvada Aquatic Center pools.

Speaker 1:

Whoa.