How voters could chime in on future of Villa Park pool
For at least six more months, Villa Park's Lufkin Pool will remain where it's been for the past 64 years. Trustees decided Monday to delay a decision on whether to demolish it.
But an advisory referendum question the village might place on the April 2 ballot could help officials settle on its future.
Trustee Nick Cuzzone proposed the idea of asking voters next spring whether the village should pay to fix Lufkin, located at 1000 Ardmore Ave. He said he thinks trustees are hearing from one motivated subset of people who want to keep the facility, while many others may believe it's a lost cause.
"Personally, I think it's not a good idea to keep this pool going. It's reached the end of its life," Cuzzone said. "But if people want to spend extra money on property taxes to keep it open, I'd be willing to vote for it."
The pool sat dormant this summer after trustees chose not to pay $200,000 to make enough repairs for it to open for one more season. Residents could swim in Villa Park at Jefferson Pool, and 13,383 people did, according to pool admission data.
But also over the summer, a group of Lufkin Pool advocates organized and began raising money to fund repairs.
Nine residents in favor of saving the pool spoke at Monday's meeting in front of a crowd of 85, asking trustees to allow them more time to come up with more ways - and more money - to preserve what resident Wendy Granrath called "a village landmark."
Members of an informal Save Lufkin Pool group are working to establish a nonprofit organization called Park Advocates of Villa Park. The group so far has raised $3,206 toward pool renovations. But members say a next step already under way by a village consultant could help determine the future of Lufkin, and of swimming in Villa Park more generally.
The village last month entered into a $29,000 contract with PROS Consulting of Indianapolis to perform a feasibility study about what residents want from the village's parks and recreation department.
The village has been floating the idea of building a new pool and/or recreation center for early estimates of between $6.5 million and $22 million. But one potential funding option recently fell through when Villa Park-Lombard Elementary District 45 voted not to support the extension of a special taxing district for 12 more years.
Without the school district's agreement on the taxing district, Lufkin Pool advocates say the feasibility study will provide valuable input about which means of paying for new facilities residents would support.
"We think Villa Park is a two-pool town, especially if a new facility is not in our near future," said Maggie Hock, vice president of Park Advocates of Villa Park.
The board's vote to delay a poll on a $77,700 demolition contract with American Demolition Corp. of Elgin was a split decision, with Trustees Cuzzone, Cheryl Tucker, Chris Aiello and Robert Wagner in favor of waiting until the first village board meeting in June and Trustees David Cilella and Donald Kase, along with Village President Al Bulthuis, opposed.
"As I interpret it, no matter what the feasibility study says, we still have the problem of an aging swimming pool that's in need of major repairs," Bulthuis said. "And that would have to be addressed."
Others also were concerned about the cost of fixing Lufkin Pool, which in 2013 was estimated to be about $900,000 to repair all identified issues. Still, public sentiment was enough to sway Aiello's vote away from razing the structure now.
"We definitely don't have the money. It's not here," Aiello said. "You can't just get rid of the pool yet because you've got to give these people who really, really want it a chance to have their say and find a way to solve this problem."