Students from Cedar Ridge Middle School in Sandy are expected to move to
their new campus at the Pioneer Building following the Thanksgiving break
this month. That will allow the City of Sandy to take full possession of the
CRMS building in early December or January and proceed in earnest with the
goal of creating a recreation hub.

Sandy City Manager Kim Yamashita noted that the city will begin some
stakeholder meetings toward the end of November, while Opsis Architecture
will perform a detailed analysis of the facilities to determine what can be kept
or repurposed.

“We want to spend the time and money doing this evaluation to ensure we are
using money wisely and having the lowest impact on the environment as
possible,” Yamashita noted.

Opsis, who is under contract with the city to devise a master plan for the
facility for March 2018, will also help to determine how to do the project in
phases and what aspects, such as the pool or a community center, to
prioritize first.

“We have limited funds initially, and I want to get the most bang out of the
buck,” Yamashita said, noting that the community is intent on keeping the
pool operational as much as possible. “At some point, we may look at
temporary closure to do work, remodel or reconstruction. Right now we just
don’t know what it’s going to take, so we need these experts to come in and
go over it.”

Initial stakeholder meetings are expected to take place with various groups,
including the Friends of the Sandy Pool, senior programs and Maverick
Aquatics, while public open houses or forums are expected at a later date.
“It’s very exciting,” Yamashita said. “It’s also, with the amount of staff we
have; it’s going to be a challenge.”

“We want to make sure that when all of this stuff is happening, we maintain
current service and minimize negative impacts as much as we can,” she
added.