Though staff recommended a reduced renovation of the MARC locker room due to rising costs, the Park City Council wants to move forward with the full project.
That includes installing larger lockers, replacing the steam rooms with red light saunas and redoing the plumbing. The areas will also get new faucets and sinks.
During a council meeting Oct. 8, recreation division manager Sadie Hennefer said water-related issues must be addressed. The aging steam rooms and plumbing system have led to water damage and mold.
“The mold within locker rooms is no longer able to be effectively managed,” Hennefer said. “It's in areas deep within the walls that now need to be removed and renovated.”
Assistant recreation director Tate Shaw said the lockers are also too small to fit normal equipment, like gym bags and tennis rackets.
“We have people who will bring in two locks, and they'll utilize two separate lockers for that reason to be able to get their stuff in there,” he said.
The new lockers will not take up extra space, but there will be half as many. Hennefer said that should be enough as only half of the small lockers are regularly used.
The full project was originally slated to cost $750,000. Now city staff says the total is over $850,000. Still, the majority of councilmembers say they are OK with spending more to redo the locker rooms all at once.
Councilmembers Tana Toly and Molly Miller didn’t want to interrupt service at the MARC twice. Councilmember Bill Ciraco added that membership fees can help pay for the project.
“This is a facility for the community, and it's one that the community also — in addition to passively through, you know, property tax — actively helps fund through membership fees,” he said.
Construction is expected to start in January. The city aims to have renovations finished before the pools reopen for summer.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
