The blue tarps surrounding the Canyonview Aquatics and Activities Center are a sign that something is going on. The recently erected chain-link fence that now encloses the grass lawn is another. The Canyonview weight room has been closed since the beginning of summer 2004. All these clues lead to one conclusion — Canyonview is expanding.
The new pool will be 50 meters by 25 yards and can be set up to accommodate 20 lanes. Unlike the existing pool at Canyonview, which has a shallow end for swim lessons and a deep end for divers, Canyonview East will be a uniform seven-feet deep. The pool will be built on the lawn between the existing locker rooms and the Canyonview Administration Building. The Canyonview weight room is undergoing a remodel as well and will be relocated to the northern side of the complex. The former weight room and racquetball courts will be replaced with additional locker room facilities. Current estimates for the pool’s completion are August 2005, while the weight room is scheduled to be completed in November of next year.
According to Director of Sports Facilities Don Chadwick, Canyonview was originally conceived as a multi-pool facility in 1982, but enrollment was too low to justify the expense of building and maintaining multiple pools. University officials contented themselves with building one 50-meter, competition-sized pool and started the Canyonview Reserve Fund to help the dream become a reality. In a study conducted in February 1992, the University Planning Office discovered that there was indeed justification for another pool in the Canyonview Center.
“There’s not enough water space between the two pools to meet the demand,” Associate Aquatics Director Fiona Kelly said.
Undoubtedly, many departments were delighted by this decision. UCSD has two pools on campus — the outdoor, Olympic-sized Canyonview and the indoor Natatorium, located at Main Gym — but an increase in enrollment and an increase in programming has led to intense overcrowding. The campus recreation, athletics and sports facilities departments use the pools for a wide range of purposes. The Natatorium, which was originally used by UCSD’s former physical education department, is now used for myriad activities, including open swim, swim lessons, lifeguard training and intramural inner tube water polo.
Canyonview Pool serves as the primary workout and competition facility for both the swim and water polo teams, for masters swimming, for open swim and for stroke clinics.
“The pools are heavily impacted, like UCSD itself,” men’s and women’s head swim coach Scott McGihon said. “These are the busiest pools I’ve ever seen. They’re in use from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.”
Approximately three years ago, talk of expansion turned serious. A committee was designed that had representatives from a variety of departments, including administration, sports facilities, recreation, athletics, Associated Students, and parking and transportation. The committee met weekly during critical parts of the planning process. Because the original design of Canyonview was that of a multipool facility, there was no talk of renovating the Natatorium instead of building a new pool.
“Remodeling the Nat would be more challenging because it’s indoor and there’s less space to expand,” Kelly said. “Plus, when there are two 50-meter pools side by side, you’ve got a world-class facility.”
Although the construction was scheduled to begin in early June 2004, contract delays pushed the start of construction back to Oct. 18. Kelly said that funding problems contributed to the delay, but Chancellor Marye Anne Fox allocated money to the project her first week in office.
“[Chancellor Fox] helped out a lot,” Kelly said. She stressed that because funding for the project is coming from many different sources, “students are being kept out of [the planning phase], so hopefully they’ll get a new pool without paying anything.”
Unlike academic buildings, which are funded by the state, the Canyonview expansion project is being paid for by a variety of organizations. The current anticipated total cost is $6.4 million. Chadwick describes the breakdown as follows: $1.5 million from a campuswide fund, $2.4 million from recreation card revenue, $1.7 million from the Canyonview Reserves Fund and $800,000 from the department of athletics. The original proposal came in at just over $7.2 million, but Chadwick said that the committee eliminated portions of the project, such as a mural, a canopy that was to trim the building and other architectural enhancements. The committee hopes to eventually add these to augment the aesthetics of the facility but was more concerned with starting the construction as soon as possible.
“This value engineering included going through the projected expenses trade by trade and identifying ways to save money and changing things such as the brand of the pipes to be used,” Chadwick said.
Despite this initial restraint, Chadwick said that planning committees are already dreaming of future improvements to the Canyonview Aquatics Center. Such plans include carrying out the aforementioned mural and canopy as well as building a mezzanine level above the soon-to-be-completed locker rooms to house an additional weight room and a trainer’s facility to which all students would have access. Planners hope that the university’s “Imagine What’s Next” fundraising campaign can help contribute money to this far-off project.
While parking lot 506 is closed at the moment, it will be reopened at a future date with the loss of only a few parking spaces. The Outback Climbing Center will operate normally as long as the Canyonview building is open. The weight room’s equipment has been distributed between RIMAC and the Main Gym, with the exception of two pieces of exercise equipment that are currently located in the Canyonview foyer.
Like others who frequented Canyonview’s weight room and are now using the other gyms on campus, UCSD athletes have had to adjust as well. McGihon says that such a disruption to the regular training season is acceptable.
“It’s well worth it — there’s a price for progress,” McGihon said. “Even if we miss a day [at Canyonview], which I don’t think we will, the world will keep turning.”
