Harper College deal would mean indoor pool for Palatine residents

Palatine Park District residents could be just two years away from a long-sought indoor pool through a pending agreement between the district and Harper College.

Harper trustees Wednesday voted 6-1 to approve their half of an agreement with the park district for a $38 million renovation of the college's Recreation and Wellness Center. The park district's proposed $9 million contribution to the project would fund a new indoor pool. Operated primarily by the park district, the pool would be open to residents as well as Harper students.

“We're extremely excited about this partnership,” Palatine Park District Executive Director Mike Clark told the Daily Herald's editorial board last week. “The indoor pool is a community asset. ... It's been on my list for a long time.”

Park district commissioners are scheduled to vote on the intergovernmental agreement when they meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, at the Palatine Senior Center, 505 S. Quentin Road.

In a recent survey of residents asking how they would invest $100 in indoor park district facilities, the top average response was $55 for a pool. A distant second place was $12 for a fitness center.

But Harper Trustee Jim Gallo voted against moving forward with the project, though he likes the building, because he wants to see more academic and degree programs associated with it.

“We're financing this through student fees,” Gallo said. “I just can't buy into that.”

Newly appointed student Trustee Eric DeBold cast his advisory vote against the project for similar reasons. He said he didn't want students on the financial hook through their student activity and technology fees at a time when some of the college's other revenues sources like state funding and property taxes are uncertain.

But board Chairman Greg Dowell said he didn't agree with Gallo's criticism.

“That building is not just another academic building,” Dowell said. “We view this as a chance to do something unique with the intergovernmental agreement.”

The rec center, at 37 years old, has become so dated it's lost all its popularity with a vast majority of the student body, Harper President Ken Ender said.

“It's been described as the loneliest building on campus,” he said.

The renovated building also would include a 5,000- to 10,000-square-foot Northwest Community Healthcare clinic as a tenant.

The college has run a health care service at a deficit for about 40 years, Ender said. Most students and staff use it only for immediate problems, preferring to see their primary care doctors elsewhere, but officials believe that could change with a facility run by Northwest Community.

Work on the renovation is expected to begin in March 2017 and finish in August 2018.