Villa Park ending era of 65-year-old Lufkin Pool
Villa Park swimmers have taken their last dip in Lufkin Pool.
The village board voted for the second time Monday to demolish the 65-year-old swimming hole, which has been closed since the end of the 2017 season. Village Manager Rich Keehner said it will be razed sometime after July 4 and the site will be regraded and planted with seed.
The second demolition vote - unlike the first in April - stands to stick because it came after the board followed its code-required procedure for seeking bids to conduct the work.
Fowler Services LLC of Elgin will be hired to end the Lufkin era by removing the pool and pool house, then restoring the property at 1000 Ardmore Ave. to green space under a $78,000 contract.
Village President Al Bulthuis said the issue, which dates at least to November 2017, has divided the community long enough.
After formation of a park advocacy group aimed at saving the pool, several fundraising efforts by the group and a referendum on the April 2 ballot asking if voters would support spending up to $1 million to save the facility, the board voted 4-3 to remove the pool.
"We've dragged this on for over a year and what it has successfully done is divide the community," Bulthuis said, referring to a "wall between the north and south sides of town that hasn't come down."
"Hopefully that'll mend some of the hard feelings," he said after the vote. "Probably not, but we'll move on."
The decision to remove the pool came despite calls to postpone the vote until after a parks and recreation study can be completed. The study is examining the feasibility of constructing a new recreation center, which could include a pool.
"If you are not going to use the input of that study to make decisions, then the money spent on the study was wasted," said Steve Seddon, a member of the Save Lufkin Pool group.
Favoring demolition were Bulthuis and trustees David Cilella, Nick Cuzzone and Cheryl Tucker. Those opposed were Trustee Robert Wagner and new trustees Christine Murphy and Kevin Patrick. The three in opposition asked for the vote to be delayed until the board's second meeting in August.
Wagner said the extra time could have been used to hold forums and meetings to gather more feedback about Lufkin Pool and Lufkin Park than the referendum provided. Among those who cast ballots, 52.64% did not support spending up to $1 million to fix the pool, but pool supporters said the high dollar amount used in the question could have swayed some to vote in opposition.
"I think we should develop a plan as to what we're going to do to it," Wagner said about the park, "as opposed to leaving it as just open space."
Greg Gola, director of parks and recreation, said a previously approved master plan calls for Lufkin Park to be converted into an arboretum and interpretive nature center with public meeting rooms, an outdoor patio, a looped trail, stormwater storage improvements and a water spray park. He called the plan "conceptual," and Keehner said the village will conduct further discussions to decide the future use of the park once the pool is no more.
One option could be to build a new pool at the site.
"To do that, we would definitely have to demolish the pool," Cuzzone said, "and I see no reason to keep the pool if the long-range plan is either to make it a park or rebuild the pool."