Town works out kinks at Queen Creek recreation, aquatic center

The Queen Creek Recreation & Aquatic Center has gotten off to a strong start in its first six months, but it hasn’t been without its challenges.

So far, the center has generated $1.1 million in revenue, with 8,869 three-month and annual members.

However, as with any new building, there have been some structural problems, primarily a leaky roof, faulty gym floor and issues with the HVAC system.

“It’s truly a remarkable system and it’s made to manage a facility like this that has so many different uses all going on at once,” Adam Robinson, director of the parks and recreation department, told council members during its most recent meeting. “You need to have pretty specific controls, and we struggled with this system for the first four-and-a-half months.”
Robinson said the HVAC is now “fully commissioned and it’s been working phenomenally the last few weeks.”

Following heavy rains over the late summer and fall, the roof was found to be leaking in some points throughout the facility. The town is now working with the contractor and a “forensic roofing specialist” to repair the roof.

“They’ve come in and truly looked at, where is the rain coming in, what are the weak points and how are we going to fix it,” Robinson said. “They just turned in a plan for repairs in the last week or so. We’re looking forward to that getting checked and crossed off the list.”

The biggest issue facing the center is the quality of the expansive gym floor as it becomes heavily used.

“(I)t looks amazing and beautiful, but up close, unfortunately, it isn’t that amazing and beautiful,” Robinson said. “Because of issues we’ve had over time, working with the contractors (we) made the decision it just needs to be replaced.”

It could take up to nine weeks to pull up the current floor and replace it.

“We feel like there is some short-term pain there as a lot of people use that gymnasium floor,” Robinson said. “We see long-term gain because the floor we will end up with will be installed right and last us for the next decade.”

Dave Lipinski, the town’s director of capital improvements, told the council that the repairs to the roof and the gym floor would not cost additional money.

“We are still under the original construction contract. These aren’t warranty items. They’re workmanship items,” Lipinski told the council. “We’re holding (the contractor’s) feet to the fire to get it done. It will be at no cost to us.”

The Queen Creek Recreation & Aquatic Center is within Frontier Family Park at 22343 E. Ryan Road. Construction on the $67.9 million center began in May 2023 as part of an overall project that included the creation of the 85-acre Frontier Family Park and the 13-acre expansion of Carter Mansel Oasis Park.

Not all the problems facing the new center are structural. Kids ages 9-12 are also proving to be a challenge to center staff.

“We started reaching around to other facilities and it seems to be a common issue. That age group is not quite young enough to keep them with the babies in the child watch — they’re just too big for that. But they’re also not quite old enough or mature enough to be let to run wild through the facility,” Robinson said.

According to Robinson’s presentation, “a lack of structured activities or space leads to a noticeable number of unsupervised youth roaming the facility, negatively impacting the experience of other members.”

One solution being considered, Robinson said, is taking one or two of the center’s current classrooms and converting them into a tween version of the teen room that offers gaming, tailored programming and other activities for older kids.

Center staff is also trying to find a balance between competing resident needs. For example, one common complaint is limited family-swim hours and a lack of evening hours.

“The current full program schedule, especially during the summer, creates a direct conflict, as adding family swim hours would limit the ability to offer swim lessons,” the report stated.

To meet such a demand, the report stated that there would need to be a “significant increase in staff hours, adding to the workload of part-time staff who are already working extensive hours.”

Overall, council members said they had received positive feedback about the center and growing pains were to be expected when a facility this large and complex opens.

“I am pleasantly surprised that the issues that you’re tracking are few,” Council Member Jeff Brown said. “(We) knew that these first couple few years were going to be sort of a fine-tuning opportunity and we wouldn’t hit every ball out of the park. But I think we’ve come really close, and I think the suggestions that you’re bringing forward and the customer sentiment that you’re tracking for us is extremely helpful.”

Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.