TRUCKEE, Calif. — The Truckee-Donner Recreation & Park District is a few weeks behind schedule for a fall 2016 opening of its aquatic center.

The cause for the slight lag, of all things, is wetness.

“The wet summer kind of put us back a little bit, but we’re working our way through that,” aquatic center Project Manager Curtis Rowe said Tuesday at the construction site.

---

---

With a majority of the outer walls erected, Rowe and the TDRPD are focused on getting the building’s roof completed so construction can continue through the winter.

The aquatic center, which is being built by Reno-based Building Solutions, Inc., broke ground in April next to the Recreation Center at 8924 Donner Pass Road.

---

---

“We got that about 95 percent (of the roof) done right now,” Rowe said. “We’re shooting for a fall opening, and that’s kind of what we’ve been telling everybody from day one.”

With snowfall continuing to mount this week in the greater Truckee area, the roof’s completion is especially vital, TDRPD General Manager Steve Randall said Tuesday.

“It’s important from a timing standpoint,” he added. “If they couldn’t work, if they had to shut down, then you wouldn’t be opening a pool in the fall.”

FUNDRAISING SUCCESS

The aquatic center, which will cover 26,000 square feet, will include a 10-lane competition pool and a warm-water pool with a temperature of 90 degrees.

The warm-water pool, serving senior fitness and those learning to swim, will feature a beach-like entry, two lap lanes, a lazy river, spray features, and potentially water slides, Randall said.

Back in March, the TDRPD launched a fundraising effort to help cover the roughly $1 million cost of a warm-water pool and a party room.

Previously, the district had secured roughly $6.7 million to cover construction of the center and the competition pool.

“We were originally just going to do the competition pool,” Rowe said, “and leave the warm-water element — the leisure pool — for a later date, just because funding was tight.”

Less than a month later, however, the district had raised more than $1 million, with matching help from Truckee Tahoe Airport District and the KaWyHa Fund.

“We reached that before we signed the contract for the pool,” Randall said. “When all was said and done, we raised about $2.2 million to be able to do both pools. It was amazing, all that was able to come together. It just showed the need for the facility.

“A big reason people live up here (in Truckee) is for quality of life. And it’s just another piece of the pie that makes Truckee such a special place to live.”