While the immediate future of Bluegrass Splash is known for the summer, what lies after that will be up to the Hopkinsville City Council to decide.
A public forum will be held on Wednesday at 5:00 at the Hopkinsville Municipal Building for the city council to hear from citizens about the best way to tackle leaks that will close the water park for the summer season.
At a December meeting, Public Works Director Mike Perry told the council that leaks remain an issue.
click to download audioPerry said the city has three options to consider moving forward — fix the immediate repairs for $300-$400 thousand, replace all the pipes for an estimated $3-$4 million, or close the park permanently.
Mayor J.R. Knight has said he wants to keep the water park open because of the quality-of-life value it provides the city.
click to download audioHe says ticket sales show that 70 percent of people who go through the turnstiles are from outside Christian County.
click to download audioKnight said a 20-year bond to help pay for the $3.4 million cost of building the water park was paid off last year, and that any future outlay would likely come from another loan. However, he acknowledges that recent tax adjustments in the city could work against them in securing funding to repair the facility.
click to download audioThe water park has been one of the most controversial projects in Hopkinsville over the last quarter-century. The city used $1.5 million from the general fund, $2 million in bonds, and $580,000 in funds left over from the 1999 construction of Tie-Breaker Park to fund the water park and the construction of an adjacent fire station.
Despite a 2004 feasibility study that said the park would attract enough patrons to be self-supporting through gate admission and concessions, it wasn’t an easy sell for the city council, which voted only 7-4 to authorize the design.
The final vote the following year to construct the water park was a 6-6 tie, with Mayor Rich Leibe casting the tie-breaking vote to move ahead. Four of the six council members who voted for the water park were not re-elected.
KT Construction of Russellville, known more for home and agriculture construction, was selected to build the facility. Originally scheduled to open in 2006, construction ran behind schedule when a state inspector requested that drainage piping be modified, and other subcontractor ordering errors were identified.
The park opened as Tie-Breaker Family Aquatic Center in May 2007, with an estimated daily census of 521 needed to break even. Despite lowering admission prices two months in, city officials said the first year averaged 436 people a day.
Then leaks were found.
The water park’s 2009 opening was delayed for several weeks after three leaks were discovered, causing one foot of water to drain from the pool.
Perry told the city council that the current problems can be traced back to its construction.
click to download audioThe City sued KT Construction and reached a $60,000 settlement in 2011, alleging the company failed to meet certain contract requirements after the leaks were discovered.
The water park was closed during the 2020 season due to the pandemic and again in 2022 due to a major water leak. It reopened in 2023 under the name Bluegrass Splash, but the season was cut short due to additional water leaks.
