While an indoor pool would be a nice addition to Oak Park, we should exhaust all other possibilities before razing the newly renovated beautiful facility at Ridgeland Common. A 25-yard pool cannot replace the 50-meter pool we have. A 25-yard pool can really only safely accommodate two lap swimmers per lane at a time. The pool at Rehm, while still 50 meters, has narrower lanes and cannot accommodate the numbers that would be pushed that way. Also two of the lanes dump into the kids’ pool, so they don’t work for flip turns. Ridgeland Common was just updated 10 years ago and all that would go to waste. While Ridgeland is only open three months a year, what a wonderful three months they are and something swimmers, children and families look forward to for those golden special summer experiences. Let’s please explore another option to locate an indoor pool.
Phyllis Frick
Oak Park
Editor’s note: Because there seems to be some confusion about past work at Ridgeland Common, here is what Park District Executive Director Jan Arnold said when we asked: “In 2013-2014, Ridgeland Common Recreation Center was rebuilt. The park board at that time, based on funding availability, did not include a full redo of the Ridgeland main pool that was constructed in 1962. The life expectancy of the pool shell at that time was an additional 20 years, that was about 14 years ago. During the 2013-2014 construction the following pool items were replaced: wood decking, concrete deck, fencing, pool mechanics and the kiddy pool.”
