Supporters want delay in decision to raze Villa Park pool
Villa Park officials say the time is now to decide whether to demolish the 64-year-old Lufkin Pool, which stood dormant this summer after trustees voted not to repair it.
But members of a group working to save the pool say it might be better to delay a decision until next spring, after the village finishes a feasibility study about resident support for building new recreational facilities.
The $29,000 study by PROS Consulting of Indianapolis is set to review what residents want from the village's parks and recreation department as a whole, encompassing more than just swimming, Village Manager Rick Keehner said. The study is likely to end in April.
There's no harm in allowing Lufkin Pool to stay in place for another winter while residents chime in, said Steve Seddon, who has been working to preserve the pool.
Nevertheless, the village board is scheduled to vote during a meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Iowa Community Center, 338 N. Iowa Ave., on a $77,000 contract that could pay to remove the pool and pump house at 1000 Ardmore Ave.
The vote is set to come nine months after trustees chose not to approve a $200,000 proposal to fix items such as the pool liner, the diving board, the drainage system, the pool deck and the pool house. The repair package was less than half the amount it would take to fix all major issues with the aging pool so it could operate for several more years, and that's Village President Al Bulthuis' concern.
"Right now, it's a 64- or 65-year-old pool that's in need of major repairs of well over half a million (dollars) to make it sort of usable but not really solving the problem completely," Bulthuis said. "It needs a lot of work."
While the repair proposal failed, trustees also voted in February to delay a decision on demolition. Trustees said waiting would give a group of pool supporters, who since have organized into the nonprofit organization Park Advocates of Villa Park, time to raise money to fix Lufkin.
The group has raised $2,461 toward its $200,000 goal in roughly two months, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the cause.
But Seddon said fundraising has been tough because people feel unsure about the pool's future. Despite the low donation total, Seddon hopes his group's planned statements to the village board during tonight's meeting can buy the pool more time.
"It won't cost anything to let it sit there another few months until we figure out what the options are. There'd be no harm in that," Seddon said. "We really think the public could be aware and have more input before they make any decisions."
Public input is especially important now that the village could have to take a different route toward funding for a future recreation center and/or pool it hopes to build, Seddon said. Officials since late last year have been discussing the idea of building a new pool, a new recreation center or both in Lions Park, but early cost estimates ranged from $6.5 million to $22 million.
Bulthuis said the village hoped the life of a special taxing district along Villa Avenue could be extended, giving access to a revenue stream that could be used to build a new pool and expand recreation options.
But last month, Villa Park-Lombard Elementary District 45 voted not to approve a potential 12-year extension to the taxing district, making it no longer worthwhile for the village to pursue, Bulthuis said.
While members of Park Advocates of Villa Park push for another delay, village officials say waiting isn't necessary because the village already knows the state of the structure. In a 2013 facility assessment completed by Williams Architects, the firm said the pool has "reached the end of its useful life" and should be replaced.
"It is not advisable or a suitable long-term investment solution to make major repairs to the pool," the consultants wrote.
Keehner said he finds it unlikely the firm now studying park services as a whole will come to a different conclusion.