Design firm selected for $4 million Memorial Pool project

The La Crosse city council is poised to move forward with a new Veterans Memorial Pool.

A city council committee Thursday voted on a contract with Ayres Associates for design work on a new pool, next to UW-La Crosse.

The company will get $198,158 toward design work with the city on the pool that could wind up costing $4 million or more.

Ayres is expected to have a final design, along with cost estimates, ready for the city council by September with hopes the project be done in 2019.

The 80-year-old pool has been a point of contention in the city since it was closed for the last time at the end of the 2015 season.

Just recently the city council voted to replace the pool in its original location, despite a consultant ranking Forest Hills Golf Course the No. 1 option. The site near UW-L was ranked fourth on that list of seven, yet the council voted to build a new pool there anyway.

Among other projects in the city, Ayres has designed the new eagle viewing area off Highway 53 on the Black River on the city’s north side.