Weekend storms escalate Lakeside Park beach problems and complaints
Memorial Day weekend storms displaced sand from the beach at Lakeside Park, 305 Buena Vista Drive in Marble Falls. The sand and other debris collected in the four nearby wading pools. Photo courtesy of the Marble Falls Parks and Recreation Department Facebook page
Memorial Day weekend storms accentuated a recurring cleanliness issue at the Lakeside Park beach area as displaced sand and debris accumulation made wading pools unsightly and unusable. The Marble Falls Parks and Recreation Department addressed the issue on Sunday, May 30, in a Facebook post.
“The beach at Lakeside Park took a beating last night during the storm,” the post read. “The on-call parks crew is working hard to get as much as they can cleaned up for the weekend with limited staff, but the beach might show some damage until we return to normal operations on Tuesday.”
Every weekend, including holidays, one member of the parks staff stays on-call to maintain park facilities as needed, Parks and Recreation Director Lacey Dingman said in a statement to DailyTrib.com. Parks are prioritized followed by areas expected to see high-traffic volume and use.
By Tuesday, a majority of the sand had been moved out of the four, 2-foot-deep wading pools. However, a film of soil and grass, as well as some loose branches, remained on the surface of the water. The remaining mess will be removed by staff with the use of hand tools, Dingman said.
Weep holes cut into pool walls are supposed to naturally filter the water and keep it from growing stagnant. However, they also allow branches and other debris to make their way inside the pools, effectively blocking the holes.
Photos documenting the cleanup were shared in the comments section of the post, where residents voiced their own concerns over the feature’s recurring problems.
“Come up with a new plan — this is NOT the first time I have seen this in this condition,” said Facebook commenter Sally Buckner McBryde.
Previously, parks staff purchased a vacuum attachment to help prevent algae growth and speed up the cleaning process of the pools to address the issue. Since then, staff vacuums the area daily, but inclement weather can pose extra challenges, Dingman said.
“The beach, as with the other portions of the parks that are within the floodway, typically show some deposits of debris after storms,” Dingman said in the emailed statement.
3 thoughts on “Weekend storms escalate Lakeside Park beach problems and complaints”
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This is the biggest fail, whoever designed it does not understand simple physics or Texas lakes and rivers.
Time to bulldoze those ridiculous barriers creating this mess, and put fresh sod back.
Nobody is using that disgusting sandy beach. They are spending millions
on everything now but can’t fix a simple issue. Game over, it’s a disaster whoever planned this idea.
How could the city now know these would be stagnant cess pools?
Daily maintenance is in-efficient. Re-design, it’s not very friendly now and super nasty.
This was a design mistake from the very beginning with what may be a relatively simple
solution, just fill them in with more concrete. Problem solved forever.
Please stop wasting time and money cleaning up the bad design feature.
Fill the pools in with concrete and let people use them as a place to lay out beach towels etc.