Villa Park residents push for fixes to Lufkin Pool

A decision to close an outdoor pool in Villa Park that needs significant repairs has residents pleading with village trustees to reconsider - despite talks about plans for a new pool and recreation center.

Lufkin Pool at 1000 Ardmore Avenue is slated for demolition and a return to open space after trustees twice voted to reject two separate repair items - one that would have paid a consultant $25,000 to prepare to fix the filtration system, acid storage, backwash tank, drains, pipes and diving board, and another that would have paid a separate company about $88,000 to replace a detached liner.

Total repair costs were estimated at $450,000, and trustees voted not to put that toward a pool that was deemed in 2013 to be at the end of its useful life.

The village, which runs its own parks and recreation department, notified residents of the decision to close Lufkin in a letter Dec. 29.

"I understand your disappointment," Trustee Bob Wagner said Monday to residents who packed a village board meeting, despite nothing on the agenda related to the pool. "But at this point, I'm not sure how we move forward to resurrect the pool."

Village Manager Rich Keehner said the repair items that could have fixed the pool cannot legally be reconsidered until a new board is seated because they've already been voted down twice.

Even if trustees had voted for repairs at Lufkin, Keehner said the 64-year-old facility would not be fixed in time to open Memorial Day weekend.

"It wouldn't be possible to open this spring," Keehner said. "A lot needs to be done."

That's why next month the village board is expected to consider a contract to demolish Lufkin Pool and its locker rooms and parking lot for roughly $80,000.

Jefferson Pool, a 62-year-old facility at 341 N. Harvard Ave., will open this summer, possibly with extended hours. But 14 residents who spoke to the village board Monday said that's not enough.

Despite plans to move forward with discussions about the potential for a new pool and/or recreation center, residents said they want Lufkin preserved.

"It is something that is definitely a landmark of the town. It is a resource of the town, and it needs to be, I wouldn't say saved, but it needs to be repaired," said Chuck Pickerill, a lifelong resident who ran unsuccessfully for village president last year. "To close it because eventually we're going to replace it is not a way for the village to supply facilities for the residents."

Keehner said the village plans to host a series of forums about building a new pool, a new recreation center - or both - at Lions Park, 320 E. Wildwood Ave. Costs could range from $6.5 million for an outdoor pool alone to $22 million for an outdoor pool with a lazy river and an indoor pool inside a recreation center.

But residents told trustees they're unhappy with the decision not to reopen Lufkin because of how long it could take to build another facility.

During a meeting Nov. 6, Village President Al Bulthuis said he thought it could take as long as 10 years to afford a new pool and recreation center, because of the roughly $30 million in debt the village recently took out after voters approved improvements to the roads and library.

Residents often cited Bulthuis' 10-year estimate when asking the village to find a way to repair and reopen Lufkin.

"Put our current pools first," resident Amanda Murphy said. "Actually put effort and money into them so we are not without this amenity."