Milwaukee County will open a new family swim center in Lincoln Park in June. Meanwhile, a community organization is putting its fund raising efforts into high gear. Friends of Hoyt Park and Pool want to bring new life to a pool that once was the most popular in the area.
Milwaukee County officials will cut the ribbon on the Dave Schulz Aquatic Center early next month. The brand new facility will replace the old municipal swimming pool in Lincoln Park. Parks Director Sue Black expects water lovers to be thrilled.
"There’s a lazy river, there’s a water slide, there are lap lanes, there’s zero depth, interactive, it’s got all of it." Black says.
No doubt, the attractions at the northeast side pool will generate squeals of delight from young and old swimmers alike. Those “sounds of the season” are long gone from the county’s northwest side. In Wauwatosa, weeds snake up through cracks in the empty pool at Hoyt Park. The landscape is a stark contrast to the days when thousands of swimmers made Hoyt the most popular pool in Milwaukee County. At age 64, Hoyt closed in 2003, swamped by structural problems that old age wrought.
"It had been leaking for many years, it was an extremely cold pool at the end, kids were swimming in their clothes, families had stopped coming," recalls Denise Lindberg, president of “Friends of Hoyt Park and Pool."
The group hopes to breathe new life into Hoyt Park by raising $4 million. A former Wauwatosa couple would then match that four million. Lindberg says the money would pay for a new heated pool that would accommodate leisure swimming, lap lanes perhaps for high school competitions, and a section for small children.
"It’s like a large crescent. You gradually go into the deeper areas. It really mimics what’s happening in a beach and it’s what a lot of community pools do. Having nice shaded areas is actually a real important part of this," Lindberg says.
The empty pool is just a stone’s throw from a refurbished play area. On a recent morning, it was filled with kids and their moms. Jennifer Jirby was pushing her little one in a swing. She likes the idea of a new water facility at Hoyt.
" We go to the “Y” and use a pool like that but I’d love to be able to go outdoors and then it’d be accessible to everybody whether you have a membership or not, you know what I mean," Jirby says.
In addition to creating a family swim center, the Friends of Hoyt Park want to resurrect a boarded-up pavilion on the north end of the pool. That gray, cape-cod style structure was once used as a changing area and concession stand, but lately, has become a target for vandals. Work crews are busy erasing graffiti and fixing damage from arson fires.
As we step inside, Denise Lindberg marvels at the handsome woodwork and marble floors. She says the space could generate new life for Hoyt Park, year-round.
"The plan is to sublease this, to have a long term sublease to a restaurateur for casual dining, coffee house, from 7 in the morning until 10 at night so its not going to be that secluded place that bad things happen. I mean, it’s too valuable, Lindberg says.
There’s no timetable yet for restoring the pavilion or constructing a new pool, that all depends on how quickly the friend’s group raises money. But Milwaukee County Parks Director Sue Black says once the funds are collected, the project will commence.
"You know, all the engineering work, all the design work, all that stuff has been done. All the paper work through the county board, everything is ready to go. We just have to get that last donation, donations, and we’ll be ready to go. So, I’m pretty excited, Black says.
Some of the money will be set aside in an endowment to cover maintenance and repair costs. Milwaukee County would pay for operating expenses, such as life guards.
Share / Email
Print
Download
Email a Friend
Facebook
Del.icio.us
Stumble Upon
Digg
Newsvine
