It’s no secret that the renovations of Lake Thoreau and Shadowood swimming pools were delayed by several months.

Now, with both facilities set to open this pool season, Reston Association says it could have done a better job with communication and investigating existing conditions before commencing with the projects.

RA Capital Projects Director Chris Schumaker dove into several lessons learned from both projects at a Board of Directors meeting on March 26 — a practice that is routinely conducted at project closeout.

He said RA could have done a better job communicating information about project delays to the public.

First approved by the board in 2018, the Lake Thoreau pool renovation was once expected to begin in 2020, prompting the facility to close that year. However, rising material costs and limited contractor availability created delays that continued into 2022. Construction finally began that August and ended in December 2023.

Construction on the Shadowood pool renovation was expected to begin in early 2023 and take four months. Instead, construction began in May 2023 and ended in November 2023.

“The capital department and communications department now hold regular meetings to discuss project progress and communications with the membership,” Schumaker said.

RA hopes to step away from project phasing and build time for permitting and site issues into existing project schedules, staff said.

Lake Thoreau’s delays were attributed partly to permitting starting five months later than anticipated. For Shadowood, RA discovered several pool beam damage, delaying the project schedule. The project was also planned in phases, which extended the life of the project, Schumaker said.

RA also plans to complete tasks like advanced site evaluation and destructive testing before creating a project schedule. Severe rot found inside Lake Thoreau pool’s bathhouse resulted in unanticipated work, and inadequate soil — an issue that didn’t surface in a geotechnical study — ultimately delayed the construction of a retaining wall.

At Shadowood, more than 80% of the pool beam and shell was damaged, requiring extensive and unplanned repairs.

Both facilities are expected to open up for the 2024 pool season, which is set to begin in mid-May.

Reston’s Shadowood pool, which will be closed this season, is slated for mid-level upgrades.

Reston Association’s Board of Directors selected a plan to bring the ailing pool out of the shadows.

Of the three proposals under consideration — less costly repairs, a mid-price refurbishment plan, and full-scale renovations — the board chose the mid-tier plan, which is expected to cost between $750,000 and $1 million.

Repairs to the facility’s roof and re-plastering of the main pool are planned. The project will also reconfigure the pool to have lap lanes, relocate an existing transformer, change the security fence, and add a route from the parking lot to the pool house.

RA expects the plan to require between four to five months to clear its approval process.

The pool will be closed this year — leaving the neighboring community without a go-to pool for a third consecutive year.

RA’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee asked the association to consider larger-scale renovations than those originally under consideration in January, said RA President Caren Anton.

The most basic option would have required between $300,000 to $500,000 of “strictly maintenance items,” RA Capital Projects Director Chris Schumaker relayed at a March 24 meeting.

The full-scale renovation would have included a complete building overhaul, including a conversion of a wading pool into a splash pad and a reconfiguration of the pool deck. This option would have cost up to cost around $2.5 million.

Board member Sarah Selvaraj-D’souza said the board’s decision should be guided by balancing the needs of the community and selecting a plan that addresses members’ “must-haves.”

“When we go for the full renovation, there are complications even regarding traffic patterns and parking and the community was loud when they said they wanted this pool open as soon as possible,” Selvaraj-D’souza said, adding that the community has already “lost” three seasons of the pool.

The pool is expected to open for the 2023 season, barring any permitting or project delays.

The discussion follows a long-anticipated evaluation of RA’s recreational facilities. The study by the Recreational Facility Work Group found a major increase in funding is needed to address capital improvement work at decades-old facilities.

Reston Association’s Board of Directors is contemplating three options for the future of Shadowood Recreation Area, an aging facility with a 20-meter pool that has been shuttered for more than two years.

RA’s Park and Recreation Advisory Committee formally recommended in January that RA reopen the pool after a major renovation effort. But in previous meetings, board members suggested refurbishments — far less extensive than those recommended by PRAC — were more appropriate.

The board has not yet taken a formal position on the issue, as talks about the project continue.

“PRAC has recently expressed an interest in seeing some additional improvements as part of the Shadowood Pool project which may differ from the Board’s original desire to refurbish the existing pool and complex,” RA spokesman Mike Leone said.

The recommendation was made after a community engagement period last year.

Staff have laid out three options for the site:

Option 1

The least extensive option, repairs costing roughly $300,000 to $500,000 would involve fixing the damaged and leaking roof, re-plastering the main pool, updating equipment to meet current codes, and other items flagged in a 2021 inspection report.

Staff noted that these items would allow the facility to reopen quickly — in about two to three months.

Option 2

RA could reconfigure the facility to include lap lanes, upgrade the security fence, provide natural gas heating, and improve accessibility.

This approach would require the approval of RA’s Design Review Board. That process alone could take up to six months in addition to the three to five months needed for implementation. The price tag is $750,000 to $1 million.

Option 3

A full-scale renovation would require site plan approvals from the DRB approval and Fairfax County.

The plan includes fully renovating the building, converting a wading pool into a splash pad, and reconfiguring the pool deck and perimeter fence. This redesign would cost between $1.5 to $2.5 million and largely mirror the previously approved renovation of Lake Thoreau Pool.

That project is expected to break ground in April. Permitting is underway, and the facility should be open in time for the 2023 swim season.

The board is expected to discuss the Shadowood issue at a meeting on Thursday (March 24) at 7 p.m.