The City of Palmdale received a 2020 California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS) Award of Excellence for the Courson Park Pool facility in the Excellence in Design - Facility Design category.
The CPRS awards program recognizes outstanding achievement in the areas of facility design, park planning, marketing and communication, and community improvement and programming through demonstrating the CREAM principals of challenge, resourcefulness, execution, accomplishment and alignment with the parks and recreation mission.
The award was presented to City staff members Director of Parks and Recreation Keri Smith, Recreation Supervisor Randy Autry, Housing Manager Sophia Reyes, Housing Coordinator Sarah Mailes, Facilities Superintendent Chris Cleaves, and Senior Maintenance Specialist Lance Ciechanowski.
The new state-of-the-art Courson Pool facility boasts a 25-yard pool that offers eight lanes, and features Palmdale’s first splash pad that includes multiple automatic water features, a beautiful public art mural, and unique artistic elements. The Courson Pool Facility provides residents of Palmdale a unique place to come play, learn, and swim.
“The mission of the City of Palmdale, and for the Courson Pool Facility, is to offer high quality, affordable, yet memorable learning experiences FOR our residents, local swim clubs, and visitors,” said Mayor Steve Hofbauer.
“Since we opened the Courson Pool Facility, it has greatly enhanced the quality of life for not only the neighboring residents, but other visiting guests from outside of the area by providing a beautiful complex that boasts attractive features, as well as promotes physical, emotional, and mental health wellbeing through recreational and structured aquatics programming,” said District 1 Councilmember Austin Bishop.
“The CPRS awards program is the highest recognition our agency can receive, and the award is a credit to the partners, volunteers, and City staff, who made this happen,” said City Manager J.J. Murphy. “We are honored to receive this on behalf of our residents.”
“We are very proud of our swim lesson program at Courson and all our pools which specialize in providing education in water safety practices as drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1 to 4 and 10-14 years old,” said Director of Parks and Recreation Keri Smith. “Courson also provides a convenient, downtown location, where people of all ages and abilities may have various opportunities to help further develop their swim skills, strengthen their community identity, and foster social cohesiveness.”
For more information, call the Department of Parks and Recreation at 661/267-5611.
About CPRS
CPRS is a membership organization with just over 4,000 members representing the 535 local parks and recreation agencies throughout the state. The mission of CPRS is to advance the profession and its members through education, networking, resources, and advocacy. For more information, please visit www.cprs.org.