MCFARLAND, Calif. (KERO) — A recent grand jury report brings suggestions for possible improvements in McFarland's Park and Recreation District including a new community pool. However, a lack of funding has put this on hold.
- On Monday January 13, a nine page grand jury report was released. It’s focused on the future of McFarland's Parks and Recreation with ideas on how to improve quality of life.
- One of the biggest findings was that the district should bring back the local aquatics center after it being shut down due to the pandemic and safety concerns.
- The report also states that though the pandemic significantly impacted the district, the cities parks are well maintained and heavily utilized. It also states that the recreation center continues to offer a wide variety of year round activities.
CORRECTION - We reported it would take $1 million total to rebuild the aquatics center. However, according to Jeff Nickell, it's only $1 million to rebuild the pool. It would take between $8 and $10 million to construct an entire aquatics center.
A recently released Kern County Grand Jury report solely focused on McFarland's Recreation and Park District. While the report states some positives in the community, suggestions were also made on how to better improve quality of life.
“We have built a fitness court here at Sherwood park, we’ve added new restrooms to Mouser field, Richie park, we added a new shade structure to the fitness court,” said Jeff Nickell, district manager.
Nickell says in past years they’ve also been able to get a new scoreboard for Mouser field, upgraded lighting systems and have won multiple safety awards.
While the grand jury report acknowledges this, other factors were reviewed.
“They did focus on the fact that we do not have an aquatics center and we have tried several different things to bring an aquatics center back to McFarland, whether it be grants or state support,” said Nickell.
The cities last community pool was drained in 2020 due to the pandemic and was later permanently shut down for safety concerns.
Nickell says the rebuilding of an aquatics centers totals to around $1million in costs, and with a recent failed measure along with a budget decrease of 9% makes it harder to accomplish.
Officials say though most of these recommendations have been implicated, a new aquatic center will continue to be on standby until more funds become available.
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