History and Construction

Our story

The original Chehalem Aquatic Center opened on Dec. 20, 1970. This was the first major construction project of CPRD, then just five years old, funded by a tax bond of just $572,000. Built on the wooded outskirts of town, Newberg’s first indoor swimming pool facility had a projected lifespan of 50 years. Past the age of 40, as the community continued to grow, the facility began to deteriorate and its pool mechanics to become obsolete. Just as it occurred to form the park and recreation district in 1965, a concerned group of citizens once again came together to make a difference. Through a lot of hard work and faith, the dream to save the pool became a reality, and Ballot Measure 36-170 passed by a clear majority in November of 2014, directing $19.9 million to construct a new state-of-the-art facility. This progress resulted in a major construction and renovation project. The two buildings were joined to become one, bridging the past with the future, the Chehalem Aquatic and Fitness Center that today’s children of our community are growing up with.

About the construction and renovation

The Chehalem Aquatic and Fitness Center construction project began in 2014 with the passage of a bond to construct a new aquatics facility. This features the registration and reservation customer service desk; an aquatic leisure complex complete with dressing rooms, showers, saunas, hot tub, lazy river, vortex, kiddie area, deep water tank, and lap lanes; and a separate area with an aquatic athletic venue complete with bleachers, and an eight-lane, 25-yard competition stretch pool with a movable bulkhead. Immediately following its opening in May 2018, CPRD embarked on another major project, upgrading the fitness area.

In this major renovation of the original building, the swimming pool was filled in in with compacted gravel and transformed into a gymnasium, surrounded by an elevated walking track with an artistic mural. Seismic and fire systems were updated to meet current safety and building codes. Energy Trust of Oregon awarded CPRD a grant of $9,725 for new energy-saving features including LED lighting, and an advanced energy system for heating and cooling. 

This fourth-generation fitness area has evolved from a small room, through increasingly larger spaces, into a full-fledged facility. Through the 1970s, it consisted of a few free weights, a quarter of a Universal machine, and a mat, on a tile floor. In 1985, under the leadership of Parks and Facilities Supervisor Jim McMaster, the first significant fitness area renovation took place, with expansion of the weight room and the addition of approximately $70,000 of fitness equipment. 

Today’s fitness area opened on Feb 18, 2019 (Presidents’ Day). In this most recent iteration, CPRD has once more greatly expanded the previous weight and cardio areas and added approximately $225,000 worth of equipment designed to address modern standards for ergonomics and accessibility, to serve today’s recreational fitness patron with a wide range of physical abilities, attributes, ages, and interests.