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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- The Beach Ottumwa is one step closer to getting another new attraction.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, the Ottumwa Parks Board approved the plans for a new $2.5 million lazy river. The new river will be state of the art and include a slide that customers and go down and into the river on tubes.

KTVO spoke with Ottumwa Parks Director Gene Rathje about the new attraction, he says that it could double the parks attendance and help bring in more revenue to the beach.

Rathje went over the specific plans with KTVO, which is pictured below.

“We’ve all agreed upon a lazy river that is going to be 600 feet long. It is going to cost approximately $2.5 million and it is going to be built directly behind me. (Where the current basketball court is located.) It will be all within the current boundaries of The Beach Ottumwa. It will not be built in Sycamore Park. Also, there will not be any trees removed from Sycamore Park. This is a project people have been asking for, for several years. A lot of people are enthusiastic about this and we are going to make this happen,” Rathje said.

The plan will now go before the Ottumwa City Council. Rathje says a representative from Larkin Aquatics, the designer of the attraction, will most likely give a presentation to the council. Once the attraction is approved by the city, fundraising will begin.

Rathje says that the fundraising portion of the project could take between a year to two years, but that construction could be completed within eight months.