Lake Thoreau Pool Preliminary Site Plan Heads to Design Review Board

The potential renovation of Lake Thoreau Pool is coming closer to fruition.

The Reston Association’s Design Review Board will look at a preliminary site plan application for the pool during its March 16 virtual meeting. The application will return to the board for final approval at a later date after comments and requirements for the project are integrated into the design.

The proposed alterations to the pool facility include selective tree removal, the expansion of the parking lot for more parking and ADA accessibility, and additional sidewalks. Other changes include the pool’s reconstruction, including the basin, retaining walls, observation plaza and deck, and modifications and expansions to the existing bathhouse.

Materials, fixtures, colors, landscaping, and artwork for the project will be presented to RA later in the design process, according to the submitted application.

In the proposed concept, the parking lot will include 25 parking spaces with two ADA spaces. The pool house would increase by 348 square feet to 1,375. The site plan also includes a proposed connection to the Lake Thoreau Loop Trail.

RA’s Director of Capital Projects Chris Schumaker said during the board’s Feb. 25 meeting that the project is projected to be three months behind schedule. Schumaker estimated another review by the Design Review Board in mid-July and the contract would head for a board vote in August.

He also estimated the pool project could be completed in October 2022 and a grand reopening could happen in May 2023.

The pool, which was opened in 1981, has been closed due to a compromised retaining wall. The details of the deterioration of the pool were identified to RA in October 2019 in a Terracon report.

RA’s Board of Directors allocated roughly $1.6 million in its 2021 capital budget for the project in October.

Images via handout/Reston Association