More problems with Memorial Pool, committee votes to close it

Leaks 18,000 gallons/day, risk to city
water supply, asbestos/lead paint problems

It looks as though La Crosse’s Memorial Pool will be closed this summer.

Thursday, a city council committee listened to the public and voiced its concerns, before voting to close the pool. 

One of the deciding factors: the pool’s in such bad shape, the city’s insurance adviser calls it a liability, says parks director, Steve Carlyon.

“If this pool is open, and is not in compliance with current code, your recreational immunity protection is nonexistent,” Carlyon explained. “So, it creates a huge liability for the city, for the commissioners, for the council members and for me, personally, as the park and rec director, because I’d be the first target on this.”

But there were other things, some of them very straightforward, while others just sounded odd, but problematic.

First, the pool doesn’t leak 7,500 gallons a day, like originally thought. Engineers say it leaks 18,000 gallons per day.

On the stranger-sounding side, other issues included things called “scum gutter” and “potty parity.”

The scum gutter on the side of the pool risks cross contamination with city’s water supply.

And the state law mandating “potty parity,” means the pool’s bathhouse is seven toilets short in the women’s area – a violation of state law, apparently. Yes, the law mandate was called “potty parity.”

Oh, and the bathhouse has hazmat issues involving asbestos and lead paint.

So, the writing seems on the wall, as the city’s parks department erased the pool from the summer rec. guide and reallocated operating funds. 

“We sit here and listen to passionate concern about neighborhoods and the great times that have been held in that pool, in one hand,” city council president Dick Swantz said. “But, on the other hand, I’m listening to a qualified engineer say to me that this pool is not safe right now.” 

Full city council will have final say on closing pool for summer next Thursday.

That engineer, hired by the city to study the pool, said Memorial absolutely must not open this summer and repairs – if the city chooses to make them – could take more than a year.