Completion of new Libertyville High swimming pool delayed until July
Completion of a new indoor swimming pool at Libertyville High School has been delayed a few weeks until July.
Even so, officials insist the natatorium's cost won't exceed its $21.5 million budget.
The project, which began in fall 2017, was supposed to wrap up this month. But poor weather has led to delays, officials said.
"As you can imagine, it is very difficult to prepare and pave the parking lot and areas of access to the pool with the amount of rain we have had," Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 board member Casey Rooney said.
A new target date for completion wasn't available. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held when the pool is ready for swimmers, District 128 spokeswoman Mary Todoric said, but a date hasn't been set.
School board members have visited the construction site throughout the process and are excited about the effort.
"Each time I've seen it, I've been impressed with what a beautiful facility it is," board member Lisa Hessel said. "I think the community will agree that this state-of-the-art pool will be well worth the wait."
The pool's completion won't be the end of construction at Libertyville High this summer.
The old indoor swimming pool space will be remodeled and turned into space for physical education and extracurricular programs. Construction will start once the new pool opens, officials have said.
Additionally, an expansion is planned for sister school Vernon Hills High. Eight new classrooms, a cafeteria expansion, a second gymnasium, a new dance studio and a science-and-technology lab are coming.
The projects at the two schools are expected to cost $30.3 million. That doesn't include the cost of the new Libertyville High pool.
The upcoming Libertyville High work could be completed in spring 2020. The Vernon Hills High expansion could wrap up in fall 2020.