A giant pool will create the perfect conditions for training surfers — creating at least 240 waves an hour.
It’ll be part of Broward County’s first surf park, whose construction could start as early as next year in Coral Springs.
With visions that “perfect waves could produce an Olympic athlete,” the City Commission signed off on a proposal for the surf park Wednesday evening.
The developer, Margate-based Ocean Sports Development, Inc. pitched an idea for the surf pool where hundreds of waves each hour can be random or by design. It’ll be set up so the waves can be adjusted as they move.
The surf haven would be built at the intersection of Sportsplex Drive and Royal Palm Boulevard. It will be south of Coral Glades High School on Sportsplex Drive, just west of the Coral Springs Aquatic Center on Royal Palm Boulevard.
The nearest surf park is in Orlando at Walt Disney World’s Typhoon Lagoon, Ocean Sports Development chairman Anthony Brown said.
“Our goal is to not to create an amusement park,” he said, rather it’s to create a place for kids to learn to surf.
He said he wants to see “kids go to college because they can surf.”
A three-story building would include an observation area, a restaurant, and pro shop to rent a board. Tiki-hut structures will hold the bathrooms, and cabanas will be available for rent. The park also will have a splash pad for smaller children.
Clearwater-based Sports Facilities Companies will generate the plans that the city still needs to formally approve.
Details about land and money still need to be worked out. Options include the city donating the 20-acre parcel of land in exchange for the estimated $15 million to $20 million development and other improvements to the area, or the city could continue to own the land and lease it.
Commissioner Larry Vignola said he’d like to see a new waterpark feature and this could be a good addition.
“It could be a good fit,” he said. “It would be a real draw into northwest Broward County.”
He said as his daughters peered over his shoulder to watch the online meeting, they texted their friends in excitement.
“I’d like to see it done by the weekend,” he joked.
Construction could begin in 2021 and take eight months to a year.
