Photo Credit: Nicki Evans, The Baytown Sun
Pirates Bay Waterpark, located in Baytown, Texas, opened its first season on June 23, 2010. Located only 30 minutes east of Houston, the waterpark provides an opportunity to cool down from the extreme heat, and is the largest municipally owned waterpark in southeast Texas. During its short first season, the waterpark entertained over 70,000 visitors from Baytown and surrounding areas.
In 2006, parks and recreation employees convinced city leaders of the need for a master plan to focus on the future of aquatics in the community. Baytown officials retained the firms of Kimley-Horn and Associates and Counsilman-Hunsaker to prepare the master plan, which identified and evaluated current aquatic programming, and created a needs analysis for aquatic spaces based on the findings.
Community support for the master plan was high, as evidenced when community members overwhelmingly approved $9.3 million for aquatic facilities in the largest park-bond election ever in November 2007. An additional $6 million from the city’s half-cent sales tax provided over $15 million for citywide aquatic projects.
