As Collier County’s top public water park continues major renovations, replacement and repairs, county officials are negotiating with a Georgia-based company to manage the county’s five water parks.

Sun-N-Fun, located in North Collier Regional Park at 15000 Livingston Road in North Naples, has been closed since October 2023 due to aging pumps and other equipment, but is set to open by spring break 2025.

Parks & Recreation Interim Director James Hanrahan told the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board on Nov. 21 that Facilities Management, Public Utilities, Growth Management and Parks & Rec are “going full speed ahead” on the work, and that the higher-powered motors for Pump House 1, which handles filtration, have arrived.

“Even though amenities look good, we can’t run them safely,” Hanrahan said of needing pump motors replaced. “We have dedicated some maintenance staff to do the landscaping, pull weeds and exotics … Facilities is doing some pressure-washing. So when we open up, we really want it to look different, fresh.”

However, he added: “There are things that are still not going to be completely done because they’re bigger projects.”

The 6.1-acre water park features four pools, five water slides, a Lazy River, an interactive, illuminated splash pad, water-dumping buckets and water pistols. After 18 years of operations, renovations began last year, with electrical upgrades, repairs and replacements of slides, diving boards, old motors and pumps, which will speed up the Lazy River. Pools also are being redone.

Parks & Rec staff planned to reopen this summer, but an engineering assessment found years of chlorine had rusted braces and bolts on slides; drains, aging pumps and motors needed replacement; there were filtration problems; and massive leaks in the interactive water feature were causing 10,000 gallons of water loss daily.

The delay was compounded by a lack of bidders for various projects, so county staff has directed residents to the newest aquatics park, Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park, and four other county parks with aquatics centers — Donna Fiala Eagle Lakes Park, Golden Gate Community Park, Vineyards Community Park and Immokalee Sports Complex.

Jaime Cook, the Growth Management Department’s development review director, told the board it has lined up purchase orders for nearly everything, and scaffolding just started going up for work on the stair tower. “You’ll start seeing a lot of crews in there working at Sun-N-Fun,” Cook added.

When it reopens, it will face competition by Great Wolf Lodge, which held a grand opening this month for its 90,000-square-foot, air-conditioned, indoor water park, the company’s first in Florida. It’s near Collier’s Paradise Coast Sports Complex and offers water-park day passes for $60 or as high as $120 on weekends and doesn’t charge for children ages 2 and younger. By comparison, Sun-N-Fun offers free admission for children up to age 3; children up to 4 feet tall are charged $6; and county residents pay $11, with discounts for seniors and veterans; non-county residents pay $13.

Those rates may change under private management.

In July, the county Tourist Development Council unanimously recommended that the county spend up to $50,000 in tourist development taxes to conduct an independent analysis that would determine if Sun-N-Fun is a tourism draw. Some members were adamant it wasn’t. If it is, state law allows TDT funds to be used for construction, operating expenses, maintenance and marketing, but the TDC could limit that to a one-time expense.

At the time, Deputy County Manager Ed Finn told the TDC that Sun-N-Fun draws more than 90,000 unique visitors annually, including more than 50,000 during season, October through May. The tourism economic-impact study is pending.

Meanwhile, a public solicitation seeking proposals to manage the county’s five water parks resulted in the selection of Alpharetta, Georgia-based StandGuard Aquatics Inc., which is undergoing negotiations before going before the Board of County Commissioners for a vote on the recommended manager.

StandGuard Aquatics’ website says it’s worked with more than 100 governments and handles all facets of water parks, including programs, staff management, maintenance, marketing, retail sales and risk management.

Clients include Key Largo, Florida, where it worked with Monroe County’s Parks & Beaches department to reopen the Jacobs Aquatic Center’s competition pool after a refurbishment, the first since its 2002 opening. There, StandGuard offers various community programs, including Zumba, water-fitness classes, swim lessons and summer and vacation-break camps for children.

StandGuard Aquatics notes that nationwide, most parks and recreation departments are facing budgetary constraints, unable to fund operations for facilities that lack participation levels to justify continued funding. As budgets shrink, governments seek ways to decrease operating expenses, but that leads to fewer staff, less programming and hours of operation, and ultimately, less participation.

“Over time, the reduction in participation has led to numerous closures of aquatic facilities across the country over the past five years due to budget cuts,” StandGuard’s site says, noting additional services and staff are needed to increase participation. “The solution to this cyclical problem is a comprehensive aquatics management program.”

Collier’s selection came after its Procurement Services Division released a public invitation to negotiate, seeking proposals to manage its five aquatics facilities. Records show 1,973 vendors received the notice and 687 viewed it, with three submitting proposals, although the county conducted additional vendor outreach after extending the submission deadline. The three were “responsive and responsible, with minor irregularities.”

This story was published in The Naples Press on Nov. 29.