Glen Ellyn Looks at Feasibility of Indoor Aquatics Center

Glen Ellyn Park District and Glen Ellyn Aquatics Initiative officials plan to present details from a recent Indoor Aquatics Center Feasibility Study during a public meeting Wednesday evening. 

The meeting will be held at the Main Street Recreation Center, 501 Hill Avenue in Glen Ellyn, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Glen Ellyn Park District website. 

Information will be presented regarding the possibility of constructing and operating an indoor aquatics center in Glen Ellyn and public input will also be sought on the proposed aquatics center. 

The presentation will focus on planning, constructing, operating and maintaining a multi-purpose indoor aquatic center for all ages, ranges of health, and levels of experience. 

The feasibility study found that the best location for a pool would be at Ackerman Park and the pool would be constructed as an addition to Ackerman Recreation Center. The design options discussed in the feasibility study include: 

• Design Option 1: A single-level design, which provides a 25-yard by 67-foot eight-lane main program pool plus a shallow warm water teaching pool measuring 25-feet by 60-feet. This option provides limited on-deck seating for high school and other small meets. The main pool has two 1-meter diving boards to support both high school diving programs. It also provides amenities for staff office space, meetings, wet/dry classrooms, family and handicapped changing rooms, and locker room and lobby space to accommodate daily programming. This design provides shallow teaching and fitness space and warm-water lap lanes for seniors and the very young moving from lessons to organized swimming. The total square footage of the space is 22,551 square feet. The pool is expected to cost  $ 7,327,000.     
• Design Option 2: A two-level design that increases the Main Program Pool to a stretch 25-yard design measuring 25 yards by 121 feet with a movable bulkhead for program flexibility. The Teaching/Fitness pool increases to 30-feet by 60-feet. In addition to the features and amenities in option one, it also provides enhanced locker room, meeting, and amenity space. This upgrade provides a facility that creates much greater program potential and fitness and recreational use and can commodate more swim meets. Option 2 is 36,459 square feet with a 32,553 square foot first floor footprint. This design option is expected to cost $11,448,000. 
• Design Option 3: This proposed design option is expanded to a 50-meter by 25-yard Main Program Pool with a 25-yard by 38-foot warm-water Teaching/Fitness Pool. The square footage totals 53,472 square feet with a footprint of 48,161 square feet. In addition to the amenities and features in Options #1 and #2 this facility increases program and event potential and could become regional asset. It also provides increased program support and amenities. This design option is expected to cost  $16,066,000.    

The Park District was approached several months ago by the Glen Ellyn Aquatic Initiative (GEAI), a volunteer organization comprised of Glen Ellyn community members, whose mission is “to increase the year-round accessibility of aquatic’s fitness, recreation and sport for all the residents of the Glen Ellyn Park District."

Recognizing the growing demand and popularity of swimming within the Glen Ellyn community, the Park District agreed to cooperate with the GEAI in conducting a feasibility study, which was fully funded by the GEAI. 

The feasibility study comes as the park district recognizes the popularity of success of the Gator Swim Team, attendance at Sunset Pool and a newly established high school swim team — the Glenbard South and West co-op swim team. 

In addition, interest and support was noted in the recently conducted Park District Community Attitude and Interest survey.  

• For more information, the preliminary feasibility report is available at: http://gepark.org/assets/PDFs/Board%20Agendas/2014/031814RMA.pdf
• For more information on the Glen Ellyn Aquatic Initiative (GEAI):
• http://www.glenellynaquatics.org/