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Revisiting the ANDERSEN WATER PARK

By Robert E. Martin  

Back in 1986, few projects apart from the Zilwaukee Bridge, Autoworld and the Midland Nuclear Power Plant generated as much controversy in so short a time as Saginaw's 'Andersen Wave Pool & Water Park'.
     

The origin of the city's interest in the Wave Pool stemmed from Frank Andersen, a great benefactor of Saginaw who decided to donate $325,000 for the project once the old Andersen Pool (now known as the Andersen Community Enrichment Center) was closed because of it's poor physical condition and rusting pipes - much like the situation with the current Wave Pool & Water park.

 

Soon this amount of money was matched by funds from the city, which in turn were used to secure $640,000 of State Land & Water Conservation Grant money. An additional $750,000 was taken from the City Water Fund and the total cost of the project from inception to completion went from $2.4 million to $2.6 million dollars.
      

At the time critics questioned not only whether the City of Saginaw could afford the project, but also whether citizens would support it.  More troublesome to other critics was not the issue of citizen support so much as problems with city neglect of past projects.

The original Andersen Pool was well used, but developed serious plumbing and structural problems after City Hall closed it for several years due to budget constraints.  
Today, some 16 years after the inception of the project, the Andersen Wave Pool is closed for the very same reasons.
  

At the time city bureaucrats argued that it was not feasible to renovate the old Andersen pool because people wanted fancier water parks.
"Research has shown that interest has shifted over the years away from the municipal pool," commented Saginaw Parks engineer Darwin Baranski back in 1986.  "More people have backyard pools and travel to the Great Lakes in the summer, so a more sophisticated replacement is necessary. Research has shown there is more interest in Wave Pools because it is similar to a lake."
 

Thomas Cawley, the City's Superintendent of Streets, Parks & Cemeteries, commented to The Review back in 1986 that "a water park is a specialty item, so that necessitated us going to Detroit to find an architectural firm."  The city paid $51,000 at the time to the Troy firm of Hoyum/Basso, which was the first expenditure made on the city's part that got the ball rolling on the project.
   

Ironically, at the time there was also a commercial Water Slide out on Bay Road that was poised for closure. However, Cawley pointed out back then that 'The slide on Bay Road wasn't very long of a ride and they charged by the ride. We're looking at charging people $4.00 for both the Water Slide & Wave Pool all day long."
     

The only item for comparison at the time was the Waterford Water Park in Oakland County. Their facility had opened 10 years earlier in 1976 and was also municipally owned. Over a 102-day season that facility had netted $127.896 at the time, with an attendance of 106,999.

 

Many in the City of Saginaw questioned whether that many visitors would come to the Saginaw Water Park. Moreover, given the fact that the facility in Oakland cost about half as much to construct as Saginaw's, it was pointed out in these pages that based on Oakland's figures, it would take over 20 years of operation before Saginaw's Andersen Water Park would break even.
    

Today, one of the main cost factors that keeps the Andersen Wave Pool & Water Park closed is the high cost of insuring the facility.
Noted Cawley at the time, "A lot more rescues occur in a pool like this. But the facility is great for handicap access and is barrier free, just like a beach."
    

Today, as the Andersen Water Park sits quiet and locked up on a sunny June day, it strikes one with sadness that the facility could never meet the great expectations its supporters held for it.  
    

While the facility was never marketed properly to reach it's full capacity, the biggest shame is that like it's predecessor, The Andersen Pool, it has now been moth-balled so long that it is falling into disrepair that makes it more difficult to sell to a private entity with each passing year.

Moreover, given the current problems and controversies with hikes in water rates and the water fund, it is difficult not to question whether or not monies expended by the City could not have been directed into more far-sighted use.

 

But hey, it never hurts to dream. 
     

The Andersen Water Park was a great time for a few glorious summers.  They say water is the universal solvent. Sadly, the facility never brought in the droves of people commensurate with the seas of green expended upon it.