The City of Madison received a total donation of $2.5 million from retired jewelers Robert and Irwin Goodman for the design and construction of the community pool in Madison. When they began the journey of building a new aquatic center, the city formed two committees: One for planning and one for raising money. The dedication and hard work of these committees was integral to the success of the project.

One of several key issues in this project was putting the pool in the most accessible place for all of the city's neighborhoods. WTI and the Ad Hoc Pool Committee studied nine sites for feasibility of location, parking, transportation, demographics and technical aspects of all sites. WTI then developed two concepts: One with an 800-bather load capacity and the other for 1,000 bathers. The city contributed $1.26 million, and the rest came from public and private donations through impressive fundraising efforts. This was enough to begin the final design of the pool that would ultimately hold 1,000 swimmers.

The deck-level pool is a total of 16,500 square feet with a zero depth entry, interactive waterplay, two waterslides and a 25-meter lap area with eight lanes. It also features one-meter diving boards, starting platforms, large deck areas with shade structures and deck furniture, concessions and guest changing areas. The design also incorporated variable frequency drives on pool pump motors to help reduce energy costs, and all building materials, lighting and heaters are designed to be energy efficient.

The project proved to be a massive success, with an average of 1,100 guests per day in the first season. The goal was to attract residents of all ages and ethnic backgrounds and provide public aquatic recreation to children of all income levels.