Why We Don't Have a Public Pool
Answers to the question asked by all new Downers Grove residents
Earlier this month, someone on a local Facebook page posted this question: “Why can’t we put a public pool in Downers?”
It’s a question that many have asked—and various park boards have attempted to address—over the past 35 years. And every summer, when temperatures spiral and the humidity settles like a damp cloak on our town, the question is asked again.
And maybe, just maybe, there is reason to hope that a positive answer may eventually be forthcoming.
But first, some history. Many residents don’t realize that Downers Grove once had a public pool, built 100 years ago at the southeast corner of Belmont Road and Maple Avenue. Called Belmont Pool, it closed in the 1950s and was purchased by a group of local families who renamed it Maple Hill Swim Club and opened it as a private, member-owned pool. The pool was closed in 2017 after owners struggled for years to maintain the aging facility and compete successfully against the Downers Grove Swim and Racquet Club which, since 1954, had offered a country club atmosphere on 20 rolling acres at 5560 Fairview Avenue.
But even with two private pools available, the Downers Grove Park District board decided in 1990 to tentatively move ahead with a public pool. The district placed four referendums on the ballot that spring—a binding referendum that would raise $7 million in construction bonds, and advisory referendums on whether to spend property tax dollars to build aquatic and multi-use recreational facilities at what is now Ebersold Park, 59th and Main streets.
The referendums failed by a large margin.
Undeterred, the Park District floated another advisory referendum in 2000 that sought voters’ approval for a recreation center and outdoor pool with amenities to be built on land it owned at 4500 Belmont Road. That referendum also failed, but the Park Board decided to go ahead with plans to construct the rec center—now known as the Cathy Mahoney Recreation Center—over the strenuous objections of the neighborhood.
A year later, the Park District surveyed Downers Grove residents to learn why they had voted against the referendum. The chief concern, mentioned by 13.6% of respondents, was taxes. Another 11.3% of respondents said Downers Grove had enough pools. However, there remained “significant community support for a public pool,” according to a survey conducted by the Community Outdoor Pool Advisory Committee, which was convened by the Park District in 2002.
Enter Art Jaros, who was elected to the Park Board in 2003 on his pledge to develop a plan for a financially self-sufficient aquatic facility that neighbors would support.
After years of research, consultants and discussion, Jaros put a plan on the table for a year-round facility with a retractable roof. He believed that was the only design that could be self-sufficient, given the minimal revenue an outdoor-only pool would be able to generate.
Then the consultant, Ramaker & Associates, estimated the cost of the year-round facility at $33 million, which dwarfed the board’s working estimate of $8 million to $10 million as well as the $14million to $18 million estimate for an indoor pool floated by another consultant two years earlier.
However, it seemed possible to trim several million dollars from that staggering estimate, and Jaros also floated the possibility of partnering with Westmont and Darien to support the new year-round facility. Weeks later, the 2008 housing collapse and a deepening recession put the plan in jeopardy. Then Jaros, its chief advocate, lost his bid for reelection in 2009 and Downers Grove seemed to lose its last chance for an affordable public pool.
Further, public demand for a pool was now being met in other ways. In 2004, the Park District introduced a program that allowed Downers Grove residents to purchase memberships to Clarendon Hills, Lombard and Butterfield park district pools at resident rates. In return, residents of those towns got the local rate at our recreation center. This pool pass exchange program continues today with partners Paradise Bay Water Park in Lombard, Sea Lion Aquatic Park in Lisle and the Butterfield Park District Aquatic Center.
In 2009 and 2010, the Park District also tried partnering with the Maple Hill Swim Club to offer $1 and $3 day passes at that facility. The results were lackluster, however, and the program was discontinued in 2011.
Bob Gelwicks, a veteran Park Board commissioner now retired, told me in 2011 that “we’ve got surrounding pools people are using and that seems to satisfy the need.” He added that he’d heard nothing from residents about a Downers Grove public pool for years.
However, the Park District’s 2017 Community Needs Assessment and a December 2023 online community survey both indicated a “strong community interest in water-based recreational amenities,” said Dawn Hartman, the park district’s director of marketing and community engagement.
According to the survey, 24% of respondents said they used one of the three aquatic facilities offered through the pool pass exchange program. Residents also ranked outdoor pools and water parks among the top five amenities they most wanted.
The Adventure Falls Sprayground, which opened in 2024 at McCollum Park, 6801 Main St., was a direct result of the 2017 assessment and district’s Focus Forward Master Plan, which identified a need to “explore water-based opportunities,” including a sprayground, Hartman said. In its opening season, the sprayground attracted nearly 14,000 visitors and sold 2,793 resident season passes. This year, 1,757 passes already have been sold.
But even more encouraging for those hoping a public pool might still be in Downers Grove’s future, the Park District “remains committed to evaluating and enhancing water-based amenities and programming,” Hartman said. The district’s 2024-2033 Master Plan includes a “Strategy 1.5” which sets out initial actions, actions for the near future, and long-term plans toward that end.
I know, I know. After so many years of rejection, a Downers Grove public pool seems like an impossible dream. But then I consider all the improvements made by the Park District over the past 25 years and its commitment to responding to residents’ interests, from synthetic turf fields to pickleball courts to the plans for Gelwicks Park, and I think, why not? Especially if residents who truly want a public pool continue to make their wishes known.