One of Aurora’s oldest recreation mainstays, Utah Pool, is getting a facelift that will add a new splash playground, better locker rooms and family changing cabanas next to the indoor pools.

Construction on the 42- year-old facility at 1800 S. Peoria St. is underway and should be complete in March, right before the scheduled opening of the new Moorhead Recreation Center in north Aurora.

“We had a splash ground here that we’ve had for years and years, since our last renovation, and we finally got the funds to be able to redo this,” said Mari Weyman, assistant manager at Utah Pool. “When we got Del Mar redone, it was beautiful and everyone is loving the splash playground over there. So, we figured we’d create something similar at Utah for our community to enjoy.”

The city tore down an old, rusting spray ground inside the pool area last week and will begin installation on the new attraction this week. The new splash ground will have more features, requiring a lot more water, and will have more things that interest kids of different ages. It should be open and running by the end of October.

“Kids like having the ability to turn the water on and off in certain places and really play with it,” said Kristen Bohm, manager at Utah Pool. “So we found a much bigger playground that we think families will really be into.”

The city last renovated Utah Pool in 1998 when the giant yellow water slide was installed and a permanent metal roof was added over the two indoor pools. Before that, the roof was an air bubble installed in 1979.

On average, about 150,000 people visit Utah Pool every year.

“Utah Pool is the highest revenue-generating facility in the recreation division of (Aurora Parks, Recreation and Open Space). It is well-loved and utilized and is showing its age having not been touched since the late 1990s,” said Byron Fanning, manager of recreation for Aurora. “These updates are badly needed, and the community deserves them.”

Additional construction this fall will remodel the entryway at the pool with a new front desk, flooring, paint and roof repairs in the front office, outside and over the administrative spaces. There also will be added family changing cabanas, an addition residents have asked for to expand their options passed the single-family change room at the pool now.

“We’re also looking to update the locker rooms because residents have said that the ones over at (Beck Recreation Center) are gorgeous and they would like to see that over here too,” Weyman said. “So we’re listening a lot more to the community and noting what they like at our other recreation center to hopefully emulate those positives at our existing centers before we finish out new ones — Moorhead and Central.”

The Moorhead Recreation Center at 2390 Havana St. was built in 1975 as a 4,500-square foot drop-in center that averaged thousands of visits from kids and teens every month. After years of planning and fundraising, demolition of the old center happened in January, with a planned re-opening of a two-level, 31,000-square foot facility on Memorial Day next year.

At Moorhead, many of the exterior walls are up, steel work is progressing and the contractor hopes to have most of the building “dried in” before the winter weather hits.

“We’re hoping to have everything complete at Utah Pool before Moorhead opens so we can focus on that center once all of this is done,” Bohm said.

The city is in the design phases of a new Central Recreation Center near East Iliff Avenue and South Tower Road that should be open at the end of 2018.

Though the city has owned that land and had intentions of building a recreation center there for 20 years, the project is finally beginning thanks to tax money generated from marijuana operations in Aurora. That sudden influx of marijuana revenue prompted city council to decide on a one-time project for the funds, Fanning said.

“Currently, we are gathering public input and narrowing down what the center will look like and what programs and facilities will be included. … It is an exciting and dynamic way to get feedback from neighbors, users and other stakeholders,” Fanning said. “A concept plan for the new center will be unveiled at the upcoming October meeting and participants will weigh in on the plan and the architectural look of the building.”

In the next few months, the recreation center master plan will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Board, Planning Commission and City Council for final approval.

A public meeting for the Central Recreation Center project will be at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Vassar Elementary, 18101 E. Vassar Pl. Attendees will be able to weigh in on the planned features and look at the working designs for the center there.