Lake Bluff Pool Has One More Season Left in it

What is the message from the Lake Bluff Board of Park Commissioners about the future of the ?

They have not given up.

“We’re active. We’re not letting this pool go,” said commissioner Rob Douglass at the board’s committee of the whole meeting Monday night.

Park District Executive Director Ron Salski presented commissioners with a comprehensive master plan for possible next steps toward making much-needed repairs to the 40-year-old pool.

As for this summer, however, the park district expects the Lake Bluff Pool will make it through one more swimming season before repairs are absolutely necessary to continue future operations. The cost to repair the pool for the coming season is still undetermined at this point.

The master plan would involve developing a more detailed scope of services and evaluation of needed pool repair budgetary costs with three aquatic professional companies or contractors.

“This would really verify the cost in each area,” explained Salski, who added this process could include going down into the pools pipes to determine how much repair is needed.

“It adds some validity to the actual cost of the repairs,” he said.

The analysis is projected to be concluded by June of this year.

The board will also perform a verification of the costs to completely rebuild the pool, and bath house, which will also be completed in June.

In last November's election, a $10.5 million referendum failed after proposing an estimated $7 million for the new pool and bath house, and $3.5 million for capital improvements.

According to park district officials, contrary to popular belief that it would cost $400,000 to make needed repairs to the pool, it would actually cost $6.9 million to make the needed repairs.

“We can’t repair it for $400,000,” said Board of Park Commissioners Chairman Kurt Gronau. “We can replace the gutter, but that’s about it.”

Since the referendum to replace the pool failed, the park district has looked at raising some, if not all of the needed funding through private donations.

Since then, Friends of the Lake Bluff Pool has been established as a separate foundation dedicated to pursuing private funding for the pool.

Salski also advised commissioners that although the $3.5 million in capital improvement repairs was viewed as the item that took down last November’s referendum, the improvements will be needed in the not too distant future, and are something that should still be considered by commissioners.

“We still need to find solutions to capital improvements,” he said.

Once the analysis has been completed, there will be a joint meeting with the park board and foundation trustees in September to determine their next steps.

If the park district were to decide to take this issue to another referendum, their next opportunity would be the March 2012 election.

Commissioners would need to make a determination on another referendum by next December.

“Somewhere down the road we’re going to try to replace this pool,” said Gronau.