Winnetka Park Board Plans to Debate Pool Concepts

The swimmers of New Trier High School may be state champions, but when summer comes to the North Shore, the kids of Glencoe and Winnetka have no outdoor public pool to try their fish-legs.

Some parents of future Trevians are leading the drive to change that and put a pool on the site of a baseball field and tennis courts west of the parks administration building at the Skokie Playfield in Winnetka.

“I spent most of my childhood riding my bike to the local pool, and I'd like to have that for my children,” said pool proponent Laura Glenn.

Pool supporters are currently trying just to get a swimming pool put into the next five-year plan for the Skokie Playfield. The park board will meet Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. to mull over pool designs and water mitigation.

“We're trying to do studies to help us understand the impact of a pool and other amenites on the site,” said Winnetka Parks Director Terry Schwartz. “A pool is a topic that's been in discussion for a long, long time in the community.”

Wilmette, Glenview, Deerfield and Northbrook all have outdoor public pools, but residents in Winnetka as well as Glencoe have to swim in the lake if not a private pool in summer.

A previous referendum for an indoor pool failed by a 54-46 margin in 2001. A proposal for an outdoor pool was crushed by a 2-to-1 margin the following year.

Currently, the Winnetka Parks Board is split three ways over the pool concept. Three oppose the project outright, while two support the idea. Two more board members support the idea, if the pool is paid for privately. An outdoor pool would cost $5 million to $7 million, said Schwartz.

Pool supporters such as Glenn are not asking for public money at this time and hope that private funds will come available for the capital costs.

That does not appease opponents like Debbie Ross, who said tax dollars may still be needed to operate the facility and pay for the employees.

“To me, it's a ridiculous expenditure,” Ross said. “We have beautiful natural resources that need protected first.”

Ross said the park board should prioritize the restoration of lake bluffs and ravines rather than take on the expense of a new facility. She lamented the loss of a Skokie Playfield ball diamond, which her grandkids use. She said they would not use the pool because they swim at a country club.

She also worried about the loss of open space that currently acts as a sink against rainwater near the Skokie Marsh. “It takes up about three acres which become impermeable,” Ross said. “We have a lot of water runoff problems in Winnetka.”

Glenn said any pool proposal would consider improving water runoff at the playfield before any construction. She also said most children do not have access to private clubs and Lake Michigan is often too cold for swimming.

“A pool is not a luxury but something that is fairly standard,” she said.