Palatine Park District Votes To Close Willow Pool

The Palatine Park District board voted 3 to 1 Tuesday to close Willow Pool in 2012.

The vote came after numerous residents pleaded with the park board to keep the pool open or at least delay a vote. However, park officials said the 44 year old pool was in poor condition and would be too costly to maintain or replace.

"It's time to replace the pool, [after] 45 years it's time to replace the pool and what do we do?" said Park District Commissioner Jay Cozza.

Park officials said it would cost $1 million to $1.8 million to renovate the pool or build a new pool to replace , 530 N. Stark Drive. Park District Executive Director Ron Gbur said the pool had numerous issues: The shell of the pool is in poor shape, the pool filter and pump will have to be brought up to code, and the rim flow gutter system replaced, to name just a few.

Cozza and fellow park commissioners Andy McPherson and Jennifer Rogers voted to close the pool. Nick Sawyer voted against closing it. Park Board President Sue Gould was not at the meeting.

Before the vote numerous residents appeared before the board. At times the meeting was heated.

Cathy Paprocki, a Willow Wood resident since 1971, was the first resident to address the board and read a legal opinion from an attorney. Willow Pool originally was built by a developer as an amenity for the subdivision and then deeded to the park district.

In the letter, the attorney states that the agreements "obligate the Park District to maintain a pool at Willow Wood Park."

As Paprocki spoke, Rogers interrupted her.

"Mrs. Paprocki I'm sorry your two minutes are up," Rogers said.

"You're really going to do that?" Paprocki responded. "This is a legal document."

Gbur intervened and suggested Paprocki be allowed to finish.

Later in the meeting a resident said members of the Willowwood subdivision would like to be part of the conversation and work with the board on the pool issue, but park board members were only willing to discuss the issue in public at board meetings. McPherson said e-mails the park board had received helped set the tone.

"Well some of that's in response to a string of e-mails we received that called us criminals and suggested that we have a legal problem. Malfeasance was used. So you know it's hard to have a conversation with people when they are calling you names," McPherson said.

Willow Pool will remain open this summer, unless maintenance expenses exceed $5,000.

Park officials have said that the district's other three public pools – , , and – are adequate to meet Palatine's needs. Residents have countered that Willow is the only pool east of Hicks Road and that children will have to cross dangerous busy streets to reach the other facilities.

Willow also lost about $44,000 last year and usually loses between $30,000 and $40,000. Residents have challenged the cost estimates and have said the pool is a valuable community gathering place. Willow is a relatively small pool with a bather capacity of only 125, Gbur said the park district would not build a pool today with a bather capacity of less than 500.

Cozza said ultimately the decsion regarding the pool came down to the larger, inevitable cost of having to replace the pool and the park district's need to be responsible to alll of the taxpayers of the park district.

"The devil is not in the details in this case," Cozza said.