Oak Brook surveys residents on pool’s future

In this economy, a huge price break on a family swim membership would seem like welcome news.

But when Oak Brook Trustee Asif Yusuf floated a proposal to cut the annual fee for residents from $685 to $200 — and throw in a $100 credit toward poolside snacks — it was quickly torpedoed by current members of the Bath and Tennis Club.

Yusuf succeeded, however, in getting people talking about how to get more residents to join and what they want the facility to be.

“Philosophically, we have to decide whether it’s supposed to be a business or an amenity,” Yusuf said.

Questions about the Bath and Tennis Club will be included in a villagewide survey expected to go out to residents next week.

A town-hall meeting on the club may be scheduled later this summer, Village President Gopal Lalmalani said.

The village-owned club is open to anyone, including nonresidents. For village residents, the fee is $685 for a family and $450 for a single membership; for nonresidents, it’s $1,150 for a family and $945 for singles.

That’s a lot more than people pay to use a typical park district pool — but a bargain compared to country club dues. And the Bath and Tennis Club, set on 20 wooded, landscaped acres, looks more like a private club than a public facility. The village’s website even promotes it as “a retreat beyond the ordinary” and “your own personal sanctuary.”

With roughly 350 members, it’s not nearly as crowded as the typical public pool, even on hot days.

“It’s a beautiful facility,” said member Hope Sabbagha. “I know the village would like to have it generate more money, but it is nice that it’s not a really busy public pool.”

Still, she said, “more membership is ultimately what everybody would like.”

Yusuf’s proposal caused a bit of a splash at the village board meeting when he proposed it, and then sank. Several people said an increase in new members wouldn’t offset the huge loss in revenue from such a drastic cut in membership fees.

Instead, the next step, some members say, should be to form a committee to look into how to make the pool more attractive to residents, including senior citizens who already get a substantial break on membership fees.

“We have a huge proportion of seniors that have no interest in using the pool, no matter what you charge for admittance,” Sabbagha said.

Other issues facing the Bath and Tennis Club include how to get more people to use the club house and dealing with maintenance issues, such as fixing up chips and holes that have developed on the pool deck or sprucing up dated and worn bathrooms.

Yusuf said he is looking forward to feedback from the villagewide survey.

In conversations, “some people said they would join if it’s a lower price and some said keep it (the same) ... and put some money into improvements,” he said.

In the meantime, though, Yusuf, who has a family membership to Bath and Tennis, wishes more people would consider joining.

“On a hot Saturday,” he said. “there’s no place I’d rather be.”