Salt Lake City west-siders are going to get that new outdoor pool they have been asking for, but they will need to hang on just a touch longer.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced Tuesday in her annual State of the City address that Glendale Regional Park — the west side’s answer to Liberty Park — will have its first phase wrapped up in “the coming year” and is barreling toward a second phase that will feature a long-anticipated pool.
When it opens, the swath of open space will be the city’s first regional park in more than 65 years.
“It’s happening,” Mendenhall said, “where many young families are building their lives, raising their children and walking their dogs.”
Neighbors have advocated strongly throughout the park’s planning process for a pool at the site of the old Raging Waters water park, a former hot spot for cooling off in the sweltering summer.
“Places like [the pool] create community, right? They are gathering places where parents ... can bring their kids, they can pop a chair, or they can enjoy themselves, the parents and the kids,” said west-side City Council member Alejandro Puy. “So, it’s something that’s a place to enjoy for all abilities and all ages.”
The only other pool near Glendale Regional Park, indoors at the Sorenson Multi-Cultural Center, mostly gets used for lap swimming.
“This is a new amenity that will be a lot more fun for kids of all ages,” Glendale Neighborhood Council Chair Turner Bitton said, adding that “everyone in the neighborhood will be able to enjoy this for recreation as opposed to just lap swimming.”
Before work begins on the park’s pool portion, the mayor said, residents will have access to a bundle of new amenities, including an all-abilities playground, basketball court, plaza, large pavilion and promenade for community events.
The city broke ground on Glendale Regional Park in October. Officials have not given a timeline for the completion of the park’s second phase but said they plan to issue a request for construction bids this spring or summer.
Other amenities slated for the park’s second stage of construction include a skating ribbon, pickleball courts and access to the Jordan River.
The completion of the park isn’t the only quality-of-life improvement on the table for west-siders. Mendenhall also announced Tuesday that she wants to link her proposed “green loop” — a five-mile stretch of recreational space that would surround downtown — to the west side.
