(Lake Park)– New estimates at repairing the swimming pool have city officials in Lake Park raising their eyebrows. Mayor Matt Carstensen says an engineer specializing in pools recently inspected the pool, and came up with some new numbers that are eye popping…
“Having looked at a virtual tour that we did with them, looking at core samples and those types of things, they have come back and said that they believe the minimum amount that we’ll have to spend is anywhere from $500,000 to $550,000 to repair the pool before we can put the liner back in at another $100,000. And then there’s still engineering fees on top of that because we have to do an electrical engineer and an electrical inspection and those types of things required by the state. So what we thought may have been a fairly manageable solution to have repaired has ballooned into something that because of spending limitations, we cannot even make those repairs without a public vote.”
Under Iowa law, Carstensen says the earliest that could happen is a year from now…
“We can’t vote until next year if that’s the solution we want to move forward with, and that would be in November. Then if at all possible, if we do choose to move forward, then construction would be the following year, so you’re looking at almost ’29, summer of ’29 before we could get a current replacement in place, so.”
Carstensen says for now, they’re looking at possibly putting together a steering committee…
“We ask anybody that wants to be on that committee or be involved in possibly seeking different solutions to a swimming pool or anything related to it, we ask them to contact city hall. They would be, could be part of a committee to help us figure out where we’re going to go from here.”
Carstensen adds constructing a new pool on the existing foot print has an estimated price tag of $5 million.
He says the city council is as much in shock as the rest of the community, adding they’re still hopeful to have some kind of a water feature in Lake Park. The only question, he says, is over what form that might be.
