It has been about two years since Orangeburg County announced it would build a public swimming pool and gymnasium.

Nothing has happened -- until this past week.

Orangeburg County Council gave unanimous approval to accept a $554,800 architectural bid by Charleston-based LS3P Associates toward the development of what will be an aquatics center. The facility will combine the public swimming pool and the gymnasium on a 3-acre site on St. Matthews Road.

The facility would be located near the Department of Social Services and Council on Aging building. The county owns about 20 acres on the road.

Preliminary plans call for an outdoor pool along with a water park, including plunge pools, tube slides, zero-depth entry, children’s activity pools, picnic areas, concessions, full sun and shade areas.

Adjacent to the outdoor pool, there is to be an indoor, year-round pool facility complete with a hydrotherapy pool, swimming classroom space, lockers and administrative offices.

County officials cite the facility as ideal for seniors or those with therapeutic needs, a training and competition area for local YMCA swim teams, an instructional facility for swimming.

In the project’s second phase, an indoor gymnasium is planned, including a multipurpose activity room with an elevated running track.

The design phase will last about 90 days to 120 days. LS3P will oversee the design phase and assist the county with the bid process and selection of a contractor.

Construction would run between 9 and 12 months with a targeted opening date of the first quarter of 2010. The two-phased project is projected to cost about $6-7 million. County officials say as additional amenities are added over the years, the project could top $10 million.

In addition to the $4 million from the penny, which is budgeted in County Council District 5 and 7, about $2 million will be used from the county’s recent $9 million general obligation bond issuance. The county hopes to receive other funds either from state or federal grants and private and corporate sector.

Plans are to see the indoor facility operate year-round, seven days week. Operation likely would be during normal business hours. The county would be responsible for operations and any liability associated with the public facility.

“There will be a user fee attached,” Clark said. “We have not completed any type of analysis of what the fee might be. It will be a nominal amount to the degree that we want to keep the facility accessible to the public.”

Clark said the facility would not be a money-making venture but would need to offset the cost of operation.

The park will look to have summer employment staff of about two or three dozen, which will include lifeguards and concession operations. Clark said there will be a goal to hire young high school students to serve as lifeguards during the busy summer months.

The facility will have an executive director, which the county will look to hire early in 2009 to help oversee the design and construction process. It would have a full-time staff of two or three.

In May 2006, council first announced it would build a sports complex on St. Matthews Road complete with a public swimming pool.

Then, preliminary plans had the complex including a shallow pool for small children and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Construction was to begin in the summer of 2007.

About the same time, council also had plans to build a gymnasium near the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Law Enforcement Complex on Ellis Avenue.

The gym, too, was to be funded with the capital sales tax to the tune of about $400,000. Construction was to begin in the fall of 2006.

But after more research and discussion, it was decided to combine the two projects.

“Rather than have two free-standing facilities require two staffs, we decided to merge the projects into one single project,” Clark said, explaining how with the projects being about a mile from one another, the duplication of services was seen as unnecessary. “There were real economies to be realized by putting it under one roof.”

Clark said he, along with council members, visited a number of aquatic facilities including Greenville, Charleston, Columbia and Charlotte. The county was also able to visit a Florida conference of the World Water Park Association.

“We inventoried the things we liked, didn’t like, trying to assess the fiscal impact of what it costs to operate,” he said. “Obviously, this is a new venture for us.”

After researching various sites and operations, Clark said it was discovered that the addition of a water park feature -- which was not a part of the original plan -- would prove an attractive amenity.

He said the water park features will not duplicate but compliment the spray park in Edisto Memorial Gardens. Unlike the spray park, the water park will have spray features within a pool setting.

“We found in order to be self-supporting from an operational standpoint, we learned traditional pool facilities are not self-supporting,” he said. “Those facilities which incorporated water park features ... have been more operationally self-sufficient. That was an interest to us so we would have a minimum impact on taxes to support it.”

For example, Clark said the Greenville County Recreational District park attracted about 8,000 visitors in one summer. The added water park features have attracted about 100,000 visitors each summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Gene Smith, executive director of the GCRD, said the water park/aquatic facility is an “extremely popular” attraction.

“It has been very well received,” he said, explaining how the water park feature has been the key to success.

“The normal square pools brought about half as many. We felt like it offered more play value to the community than the traditional square pool.”

He said the park generates about $700,000 to $754,000 in general revenues.

“It more than offsets the operation expenses and debt service,” he said.

Operating expenses are about $500,000. The facility staffs about 100 throughout the summer with about 70 percent of these lifeguards from area high schools and colleges.

The park costs are about $6 to $8 depending on the amenities used.

n T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski @timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at The TandD.com

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