Counsilman-Hunsaker was founded in 1970 in St. Louis, Missouri and while we are a national company with offices in four states and projects across the U.S., St. Louis will always be home. This summer three of those “hometown” projects were opened for business. Today we are going to highlight one of them. While our project management team takes pride in every project, the O’Fallon Alligator Creek Aquatic Center project in particular is close to the heart of our president Scott Hester.
O’Fallon Alligator Creek Aquatic Center
Scott Hester calls the City of O’Fallon, MO home and when a call to develop a community advocacy team to lead local efforts at garnering support for the project, he happily agreed. This group comprised of 8 O’Fallon residents raised awareness on the positive impacts that aquatics and recreation opportunities can have on their community. This group came to be known as the O’Fallon Parks and Action Team (OPAT) and met bi-weekly for nearly 6 months planning and strategizing how to initially educate the community on the proposed Alligator Creek Aquatic Center expansion. So often there is an under appreciation of the value that providing a community with aquatic opportunities. From swim lessons to swim team, the positive impact that aquatic experiences can have on its’ residence is immeasurable.
Once the community was well informed, it then came the OPAT mission to initiate support for the passage of a ½ cent sales tax proposition that would be used to fund the project. Through many public meetings and community outreach efforts, the residence of O’Fallon successfully passed the bond issue with an approximate 60% yes vote. Upon passage of the bond issue the city hired a team of architects and engineers for completion of the facility’s design, and the project was competitively bid within budget with the support of a Construction Management team. In May of 2018 the newly expanded Alligator Creek was opened to the public and 2 weeks later Scott’s children participated in the first swim meet at the aquatic center.
About the Aquatic Center
The City of O’Fallon Alligator Aquatic Center was originally built in 1969 and included a competition pool. While the Aquatic Center has undergone numerous renovations, including an expansion in 2001 adding a second Leisure Pool, this is the biggest renovation and expansion to date. While the aquatic center still includes the existing two pools, the addition of a lazy river and sprayground have doubled the aquatic centers size. The existing pools also receive a nice facelift with new paint and added features that every family will enjoy. The Aquatic Center includes:
Competition Pool
- 13,000 ft² including separate waterslide plunge area
- Three waterslides including and open and enclosed body slide as well as a dropslide
- One-meter springboard diving
Leisure Pool
- 1,200 sq. ft. pool with zero depth entry
- Vortex
- NEW expanded open water swimming area
- NEW stair entry
- NEW Multi-play structure
- NEW Water basketball and volleyball
- NEW Waterwalk
NEW Lazy River
- 600 ft. long lazy river
- Zero depth entry
- Large underwater bench area
NEW Sprayground
- Spray features for children of all ages
- Ability to be operational while the Aquatic Center is closed
If you want more information on the O’Fallon Alligator Creek Aquatic Center or an inside look into the park visit our friends at O’Fallon’s Facebook page (tag City of O’Fallon – Government) or check out this video highlighting the facility https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0qon7IjEGw
