Oak Park’s pool closure offers a reflection on the past and a new vision of the future

Even though the skies were gray and temperatures cool, residents and volunteers turned out to say goodbye to an old friend, Oak Park’s outdoor community pool. On September 6, the city held its Last Dip at the pool. As kids darted in and out of the water, other residents enjoyed a final game of mini-golf and caught up with old friends. 

Cheryl Weiss was one of the residents at the last dip. She watched with a smile as she reminisced about the pool and its impact on her life. 

“This used to be my playground. This was where I spent my teenage years. All our friends were here,” Weiss says. “This was the place we gathered at, this was home.”

Weiss has been a proud resident of Oak Park for 57 years. To her, the pool has been a long focal point of the community and her life in the city. It led her to volunteer and learn the importance of investing in her community.

“We had a very strong volunteer program that started when I was 11. Not only was it a place where we could learn job skills at a young age, but we had a mentor,” Weiss says. “It was just the best childhood, the best 10 years I could have asked for. This was ours and it meant more than I even know how to express.”

Oak Park’s outdoor pool has been a community hub for decades. Located in the heart of the city, between the library and Shepard Park, it was a treasured gem for residents across generations.

“Back then, every house didn’t have air-conditioning,” says lifetime resident Steven Gold, “the pool was a great way to cool off in summer. I like to think I know a lot about the pool, we’re about the same age.” 

Construction on the pool began in 1957. 

“When I was young, of course, it was very different. Our parents would send us off after breakfast during the summer. We’d leave on our bikes and didn’t come back till after dark. The pools and parks in the city were so important to us then. For so long, it looked like we haven’t done anything with the recreation facilities including the pool for years,” Gold says.

Even with the expansions of a diving area and splashpad over the years, the pool struggled with costs and maintenance. Similar issues have plagued other outdoor pools in the metro area. Neighboring cities, like Southfield, have also closed their outdoor pools, citing costs and limited access due to Michigan’s weather. 

Recently, Oak Park conducted a study on the costs to maintain the pool. According to the city, the results showed that the city had spent nearly half a million dollars on maintenance for the pool over five years.

“The analogy I use is: If you have a 70-year-old car, do you keep sinking money into it or do you finally buy a new one?” Gold says.

As the pool closes, it will be replaced with a new community center in the same location. The new facility will be home to an indoor pool open year-round and house other amenities. 

The pool’s closure is part of the city’s Elevate Oak Park Initiative. The project began in 2022 when the city saw the importance of recreation to its residents. Led by Mayor Marian McClellan and City Manager Erik Tungate, the city started a comprehensive campaign to gather residents’ feedback to help shape the vision of the initiative.

“We decided to go to our residents and ask what they would like to see in our community. We approached it from a quality of life standpoint,” Tungate says. “The process included 20 town hall meetings, six city council meetings, four parks and recreation advisory board meetings, seven hybrid stakeholder and community engagement meetings. We also sent out hundreds and hundreds of survey requests through city mailers, social media and magazine inclusions. We wanted to make sure we captured everybody.”

The number one requested item from residents was to build a new indoor pool. 

In 2023, residents voted on a bond and millage to fund the initiative. Over 57% of the city’s residents voted to approve both of them. 

“Our residents spoke. As a city, we have a clear legal and fiduciary responsibility to bring this plan to fruition,” Tungate says.

However, some residents have expressed displeasure with the pool’s closure. A petition was created on Change.org to save the pool. Created by Carey Gustafson, the petition’s goal was to have the city allocate $2 million in bond money to renovate the pool and keep it open until the new facility is complete. 

Gustafson says, “There’s virtually nowhere within 30 minutes that is cheaper. The Oak Park pool made it so easy to grab a couple bucks and take a quick bike ride to swim for the afternoon. Not to mention all the day camps that arrived daily as part of their summer programming. I question why none of this was raised at closed-door meetings when deciding to move forward with demolishing the pool outright, years before a new pool is designed and constructed.”

The petition received 638 signatures. These voices are not lost to city manager Tungate.

“I’m absolutely respectful of people’s concerns about closing the pool. We’re always going to take everything into consideration. We’re trying to add to the community and we’re trying to do it as expeditiously and responsibly as we can. When all is said and done, I think we’re going to have a pretty good community asset,” Tungate says.

Gustafson believes that the city’s outreach wasn’t enough and that voters weren’t fully aware of the plan when they voted two years ago.

“I wholeheartedly think that more people will be surprised and upset to lose the pool than people who naively voted for an indoor pool. They possibly didn’t understand that the outdoor pool would be destroyed,” Gustafson says. 

Oak Park resident Kenneth Sherman believes the city did a great job reaching out to residents. He thinks the city made the right choice when it came to closing the pool.

“Residents made it clear that a new pool was an important issue,” Sherman says. “Oak Park has that hometown, small-town feeling. It’s not like you’re lost in the shuffle. You can access your community leaders,” says Sherman.

After hearing about the cost to maintain the pool at a city council meeting, Sherman felt the closure of the pool was necessary. 

“They sunk in half a million dollars for upkeep. I just think of all the police officers that could have been hired, or city activities that could have used that money,” Sherman says.

The current construction timeline for the new community center is two to three years. During that interval, Tungate says the city is exploring all options to provide other swimming opportunities to residents, including partnering with other cities. 

“We have a responsibility to do what is best for our community based on the will of the voters,” Tungate says. “Here at Oak Park, we are not interested in second-rate anything, and that includes our new facilities. We are interested in providing premier opportunities for all our residents.”