PUENTE VALLEY, Calif. – This morning, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis was joined by Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, and Los Angeles County departments to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new aquatic center in the San Gabriel Valley. This facility would be the first of its kind in east San Gabriel Valley. Once completed in 2025, the aquatic center will serve the unincorporated areas of Avocado Heights, Bassett, Charter Oak, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Valinda, and Puente Valley, as well as the greater San Gabriel Valley communities.
“Having grown up in unincorporated Puente Valley in the San Gabriel Valley, I knew that I needed to help make this happen for our community. This is a region that has been significantly underserved by aquatic facilities. There are currently no aquatic centers in the east San Gabriel Valley serviced by the County,” said Supervisor Solis. “Growing up, many of my friends didn’t know how to swim, and it’s because we didn’t have access to swimming pools and lessons. Unincorporated Puente Valley and the surrounding unincorporated communities are areas of high park need and very high need of aquatic facilities. So that is why in 2019, I laid the groundwork to get this project going. Because this is about equity, it is about justice, and it is about economic opportunity. I’m grateful to all of our partners for helping to get us to this day, and look forward to the grand opening next year.”
The new aquatic center will include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, practice/recreation pool, an aquatic center building that will house changing rooms, classrooms, and offices, a public park, a plaza that will connect the aquatic center to Allen J. Martin Park, a parking lot, and sustainable features and landscaping.
The site for the aquatic center is currently an open space formerly occupied by Temple Academy which was closed by the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District in September 2020. The land is being leased to the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation by the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District.
“This is such a wonderful day for our community. We at Hacienda La Puente Unified School District are grateful for this opportunity to partner with Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, to bring a much needed recreational pool to unincorporated Puente Valley,” said Stephanie Serrano, Board Member of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. “This will be a beautiful way for the community to come together, build positive memories, and stay active. I applaud my colleagues for reconfiguring this school property into something that will benefit the community at large.”
This effort is a partnership between Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. The Los Angels County Department of Public Works is responsible for the design and construction of the project. The design-build team is led by Balfour Beatty and includes HMC Architects, EPT Design, Snipes-Dye Associates, Aquatic Design Group, Saiful Bouquet, and P2S Inc. The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is responsible for a civic art installation at the site. Community-based nonprofit, ActiveSGV is leading the community-based planning efforts.
“The County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation are thrilled to partner with Supervisor Solis and the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District to bring a new $35 million Aquatic Center to the San Gabriel Valley,” said Norma Edith García-Gonzalez, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Los Angeles County Regional Parks and Open Space District. “There will be no other facility like this in this region! This will be a world-class aquatic center featuring an Olympic size competitive pool, a practice pool, and a beautiful community building for aquatic training and programming serving youth, older adults, and families! The Los Angeles County Park Needs Assessment identified the east San Gabriel Valley as having a significant gap in access to public pools. Youth and families in this area had to travel to access swimming lessons and aquatic programming. Today’s groundbreaking is a game changer to public pool access, dynamic aquatic programming, youth lifeguard jobs, and water safety.”
The project is funded through a variety of public funding sources including $14.75 million from Proposition A funds administered by the Regional Park and Open Space District, $8.5 million from Proposition 68 funds administered by the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation, $2 million from Proposition 68 funds administered by the San Gabriel and Lower Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, $1.5 million from Community Project Funding Grants administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development and secured by Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano, $2.2 million from net County costs, and $6 million from tipping fees, which are fees paid when disposing of waste at a landfill.