Park District to Expand, Improve Lions Park Pool

There's nothing like pool-talk to warm up an otherwise cold and dark January evening. 

The Village Board voted unanimously Monday night to approve an amended special-use permit for the Lions Park Pool, 100 Byrd Ct., that will clear the way for the to install a new diving well, new shallow-end play structures, and a splash pad to replace the baby pool.

The improvements would take place over the next two years, park district executive director Don Scheltens said. The shallow-end playground, which will replace the pool’s mushroom fountain, will be installed in time for the 2012 swimming season. The diving well, which will feature two diving boards and a drop-slide, will be ready in time for the 2013 pool season along with the “bubbler splash unit,” which will replace a baby pool Scheltens called “aging.”

Clarendon Hills director of community development Mike Brown wrote in a memo to trustees that the Clarendon Hills Park District recently passed a bond referendum to make improvements to district facilities, including the pool.

Trustee Mary Williams called the improvements “exciting” and said they could attract a wider range of visitors.

“Instead of just the little kids, they’ll be able to draw from the middle school and high school with the diving well,” Williams said.

The planned expansion does not violate any village zoning standards, Brown’s memo reads. The park district’s plan got the approval of the Clarendon Hills Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 15. Monday was the first time the improvements were discussed by the Village Board. Because the public raised no issues with the improvements, trustees waived first consideration.

The Lions Park Pool property has long been owned by the local Lions Club through the club’s Community Service Corporation (CSC), according to Brown’s memo, and was zoned as a public swimming pool in 1952. The park district operates the facility.

Because the property is located in a single-family residential district, the pool operates with a special-use permit. Brown’s memo says the park district does not anticipate increased vehicles in the area during the summer after the improvements are complete.