Pictured is the aquatic center for the city of Salem. Waterloo Piranhas parent Chuck Breitwiser said the proposed Waterloo pool would share similar features. (submitted photo)

About four years after the city’s public pool became a skate park, the Waterloo Piranhas Swim Team hopes to build support for a new public pool in town.

Chuck Breitwiser, vice president of the swim team board, confirmed with the Republic-Times that the Piranhas brought a proposal for a public pool before the Waterloo Park District Board in December.

Sondag City Swimming Pool at 316 N. Library Street officially closed to the public in 2012 because repeated attempts to pass voter referendums for funding federally mandated repairs were unsuccessful.

“We believe Waterloo needs a community pool,” he said. “We believe that a community of this size and socio-economic level can reasonably provide a place for young families to swim, hang out with other members of the community, and stay in the community, rather than paying to swim in other communities.”

Breitwiser said the swim team board and parents officially met once in November and once in December, as well as several times unofficially, to discuss location options, cost and funding sources before bringing the idea to the park board. The estimated cost the Piranhas presented in a PowerPoint to the park board was $2.7 million.

“The most prevalent idea discussed for a pool thus far would be a complex similar to what (Salem) built in 2010,” Breitwiser said. “It has an eight-lane competition pool, a toddler pool, splash pad, and two-story slide.”

According to Breitwiser, Waterloo Piranhas Swim Team parent Michael Nolte conducted extensive research into the cost and maintenance of the pool, as well as funding options, to come up with the estimate. Breitwiser said that cost depends on features included with the pool.

“Everything we’ve looked at includes quite a bit of aquatic stuff,” Breitwiser said. “Now, we don’t care about that stuff necessarily. That’s where the water gets muddy. Some people do want that.”

Waterloo Park District Board President Joann Harlin said funding options were presented to the board as $1.5 million in community donations and $1.2 million generated through bonds issued by the park district. Harlin said the bonds would need to be repaid with increased property taxes for Waterloo residents.

Additionally, Breitwiser said initial ideas revolved around keeping the pool open 100 days of the year, with the traditional dates of Memorial Day through Labor Day. Breitwiser said the primary location where the Piranhas would like to see the pool built is William Zimmer Memorial Park at 730 Rogers Street.

Waterloo Park Board Commissioner Shelby Mathes told the Republic-Times that the park may not provide adequate parking for larger Piranhas swim meets and that parking is not allowed in nearby subdivisions.

“There is currently enough available land for a pool, however, there is a concern about the amount of land available for adequate parking,” Breitwiser concurred.

On the other hand, Breitwiser said there is land north of Zimmer Park that could possibly serve as a place for extra parking. The purchase of that land would come down to a park board decision, Breitwiser said.

Mathes added there does not seem to be another feasible location for a public pool.

Additionally, Mathes said he is concerned with the idea of only keeping the pool open 100 days out of the year.

“I would really like to see a pool too, but for 56 days of the year, I don’t see it as feasible,” he said, adding that he believes the pool should stay open year-round as both an indoor and outdoor pool.

Mathes said the 100 days would decrease significantly when thinking in terms of weather-related closures and other factors. In contrast, Breitwiser said he understands Mathes’ concern but also noted that a year-round pool would cost about three times as much.

“We’re not ruling it out. That’s just a lot more of an effort,” he said, adding the swim team board would discuss the idea.

Currently, the swim team would like to see a referendum for issuing bonds on the March 2018 ballot. Harlin said the park board would not consider putting a referendum on the ballot until the swim team raises funds for the project.

“I know the (park board would want this to happen), but we’d need public funding,” Mathes said. “Their feeling is the park district was voting (having a public pool) down every time and it wasn’t. It was the voters.”

Breitwiser said the park board informed the Piranhas that adding the referendum to this April’s ballot is unrealistic given a deadline of Jan. 20 for a final Certification of Ballot.

Another item on the PowerPoint estimates that construction of the proposed public pool would take eight to nine months, which would mean, according to Breitwiser, “we could not hope to see the pool built before the summer of 2019.”

Recently, the swim team board was in contact with Counsilman-Hunsaker & Associates, a St. Louis company that builds aquatic centers. A representative of the company gave them the nine-month construction time frame.

Breitwiser said the Piranhas board will meet next at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Monroe County Annex in Waterloo. During the meeting, Breitwiser said the board will discuss the idea of creating a petition to circulate in the community.

The swim team hopes to bring its revised proposal to the park board by April or May, Breitwiser said.