Could Oak Park have two new indoor swimming pools within two blocks of each other in a few years?
That will be up to the voters in March because on Dec. 18, in a move that seems to have come as surprise to most everyone outside the Park District of Oak Park, the park board unanimously approved a resolution putting a $40 million bond referendum on the March 17 primary election ballot to raise money to build a new indoor swimming pool at Ridgeland Common which would replace the more than 50 year old outdoor swimming pool there.
Asked when the proposal had been discussed in public before last week’s vote, Kassie Porreca, park board president, said a discussion of capital projects and funding options was discussed at a public board retreat last June. In addition, she wrote in an email to Wednesday Journal that a property tax referendum on a pool project was recommended in another park district document on its website.
Oak Park and River Forest High School is currently building, as part of its Project 2, a new swimming pool that is set to open when the 2026-2027 school year begins Aug. 25, 2026. For years there was talk of the park district and OPRF cooperating to build a new indoor swimming pool but those discussions never resulted in anything that both governing bodies thought fit their specific needs. OPRF wanted a pool that is heavily used throughout the day for physical education classes and then used for swimming and water polo teams before and after the regular school day. The park district wants a pool that adults could use during the day and one focused on enjoyment and lap swimming, not competition.
“We need it at the exact same time and the amenities are different,” said Maureen McCarthy, deputy recreation director for the park district.
The park district proposal calls for a smaller pool than what is being built at OPRF. The proposal, the details of which can be viewed on the park district’s website, calls for replacing the 50 meter Ridgeland Common outdoor pool with a smaller 25 yard lap swimming pool with six to eight lanes, significantly smaller than the 25 yard by 40 yard pool being built at OPRF. Also planned is a warm water therapy pool and an indoor splash pad with slides designed for young children. The new indoor pool at Ridgeland Common, if voters approve the bond referendum, would not be suitable for competition and would not have starting blocks.
The park district’s website elaborates on why a joint school and park district pool didn’t work out.
“Based on discussions with the school district, the high school pool is used daily for physical education classes and is heavily scheduled after school, in the evenings and on weekends for swim and water polo team practices, meets, and games,” the website states. “Because of this extensive use, it is not a feasible shared resource. That said, collaborating on programs such as diving and youth swim team would be possible.”
The park district’s website said that simply enclosing the current Ridgeland Common outdoor pool is not practical.
“Ridgeland’s pool shell dates back to 1962 and enclosing a 50-meter pool would not allow for the modern amenities needed to help offset ongoing operational costs,” the website states.
Plans also call for new locker rooms, an updated lobby and construction of a small room suitable for birthday parties and other special occasions. There would be no impact on the ice arena at Ridgeland Common.
According to the park district’s website the owner of a home worth $430,000 would pay an additional $160 annually in property taxes if the referendum is approved. According to the park district’s tax calculator the owner of a home worth $800,000 would pay $309 annually in additional property taxes if the referendum is approved.
Monica Sheehan, who led the opposition to a 2016 OPRF pool referendum that was narrowly defeated and who has been a persistent critic of the OPRF school board’s decision to fund Project 2 without a referendum, had mixed feelings on the park district’s imminent referendum.
“One could call this a stealth referendum as there’s been no reporting of the park board discussing it, and a scan of recent meeting agendas turned up no mention except in last Thursday’s under “New Business,” Sheehan wrote in an email. “There was also no mention of a new aquatic center at Ridgeland Common in the park board’s 2024-2028 Capital Improvement Plan.”
If the referendum is approved a design would be created and approved by 2027. Construction is projected to begin in September 2027 and take about 18 months to complete so the pool would open in 2029.
The park district’s still new Community Recreation Center on Madison Street, which opened in 2023 was built with the option to add an indoor pool there but the park district’s website said that is no longer a viable option.
“An indoor pool was originally included in Phase 2 of the Community Recreation Center (CRC) plan,” the website states. “As designs progressed and funding became available, the Park District took the opportunity to make the CRC a Net Zero Energy facility, which made including an indoor aquatics facility untenable.”
The park district will host open houses at the CRC to inform the public about the proposal on Jan. 22, Feb. 4 and Feb. 25 from 7 to 8 p.m.
Getting rid of the Ridgeland Common outdoor pool would leave Oak Park with just one large outdoor pool, the park district’s Rehm Pool at East Avenue and Garfield. McCarthy was asked if Rehm Pool could become too crowded during hot summer days if it becomes the only outdoor pool operated by the park district.
“I don’t know,” McCarthy said. “Some people may want to go in for swim lessons inside so they don’t have to worry about the weather.”
McCarthy noted that the park district will still operate two pools.
“We’re not taking a pool away so they’ll still be two bodies of water,” McCarthy said.
Voters will decide whether they want to replace the Ridgeland Common outdoor pool with a new indoor pool.
“It’s up to the public,” McCarthy said.
