new water park may go up at el paso school site

Work could begin later this year on a project that will see the building of a variety of water slides, lap pools, lazy rivers, and even climbing walls in a central El Paso residential section.

Some $4 million in funding for the project is coming out of Quality of Life bonds passed by El Paso voters in 2012. Additional funding to the tune of $3.1 million was approved by the City of El Paso in 2017 through the use of certificates of obligation.

The water park, which will also include a DJ booth, concessions, changing rooms, and shade canopies, is being built to replace a popular public outdoor pool located at 826 Chelsea Street. That facility, opened in 1956, was shut down six years ago after it was determined to be structurally deficient.

City officials are now engaged in discussions with the El Paso Independent School District to build the park at the site of the Ross Middle School at 6101 Hughey Circle, also in central El Paso.

Plans call for the Ross school to be combined with the nearby Hughey Elementary School one block away.

The new water park, as designed by the architectural firm of Parkhill, Smith and Cooper, will take up around 5 acres of the Ross property.

If all goes according to plan, the park should be completed by the spring of 2020.

By Garry Boulard

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