Though temperatures continue to climb with the official start of summer looming, Waterloo residents hoping to beat the heat at the Waterloo Community Splash Pad will need to wait just a bit longer.

It was announced at the Waterloo Park District monthly meeting last Wednesday that a formal opening for the new splash pad will take place after the remaining furnishings arrive, with a soft opening coming once park district staff have received additional training on the facility’s maintenance.

Waterloo Park Board President Gina Pfund read a prepared statement at the meeting sharing this information and further emphasizing the need for additional training for staff as well as general preparation.

“The Waterloo Community Splash Pad is supported by an operating system that is equivalent to that which would be found in a commercial water park such as Six Flags,” Pfund said. “It requires proper operation and maintenance to function properly and provide a safe environment for our patrons. Bringing the Waterloo Community Splash Pad into operation is a deliberate process to ensure that complex equipment is operating correctly and providing a safe, enjoyable environment for our patrons. We are going to err on the side of caution and ensure that the park is functioning properly and in a sustainable manner before opening it to the public.”

She further said that, while a specific opening date had still not been set, the park district hopes for this facility to be fully prepared in a matter of days or weeks rather than months.

Though an opening date is still undecided, Pfund confirmed splash pad construction has met a June deadline for the $400,000 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Another small discussion item at the meeting relating to the splash pad concerned the possibility of taking down the cornstalks and various other water features for storage outside of the summer.

Waterloo Park Board Vice President Michael Nolte volunteered to look into getting a company to handle this care.

The splash pad’s coming opening marks the end of a remarkably lengthy project that first began just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then, the project’s estimated cost stood at around $800,000, though this price ultimately ballooned to $1.8 million over the course of the pandemic and resultant labor and material shortages.

With the OSLAD grant taking a far smaller chunk out of the project’s cost than originally planned, the park board discussed various methods of addressing the price over the past two years.

For some time, the possibility of a substantial donation from the William Zimmer Family Foundation was discussed, though, after many discussions about how the park district might accept such funding as it is not a nonprofit entity, these talks ultimately fell through.

Talks last summer turned to the possibility of reducing the splash pad’s size, though this idea was ultimately rejected given the cost and difficulty of reworking designs.

The project received some much-needed help last year as the City of Waterloo offered financial support for the project. The city had previously pledged $200,000 from its beautification fund – money from local video gambling revenue – and then pledged an additional $200,000 last August.

Further support also came from Waterloo Citizens for a Pool as the group last year offered to supply furniture for the splash pad – namely benches and tables.

In order to acquire this furniture, WCP has worked with Green Tree Plastics in Evansville, Ind., through the company’s A Bench for Caps Promise Partnership which allows customers to receive a substantial discount on benches and other furniture if it donates materials – those being plastic caps from water and soda bottles, baby food caps, and other acceptable caps/lids.

The William Zimmer Family Fund has similarly offered support in this area of the splash pad, pledging to fund the entire cost of the furniture on top of paying for three shade structures.

Per Pfund and WCP President Amy Grandcolas, the park district has received the shade structures and is still waiting to install them.

The first set of recycled plastic furniture was delivered earlier this month and has since been set up at the splash pad.

Grandcolas expressed thanks to the park district employees who helped unload the three tables and five benches, further voicing her gratitude to the community for the plastic cap donations, the collection sites and those who have contributed to the cleaning and sorting efforts, preparing the caps to actually be donated.

A post on the Green Tree Plastics Facebook page commended WCP for its efforts and the quality of plastic that was submitted.

Grandcolas also noted how happy she and the rest of the WCP board are with this first set of furniture.

“We are all very pleased with how robust and heavy-duty the furniture is,” Grandcolas said. “All of our board members thought it was very cool how you can actually see different colors and flecks of the plastic in there, and it lets you know that this truly is a recycled product.”

WCP is still collecting plastic caps for additional furniture expected to be acquired later this year. Details on this collection campaign can be found at waterloopool.com.

Another topic of conversation at last week’s park board meeting was vandalism at playgrounds in Konarcik Park and Lions Park.

Waterloo Park District Superintendent Don Prater reported that replacement of a bridge feature in Lions Park would cost $828 while replacing a slide feature that is no longer made with a small climbing wall would cost $2,927.

Prater noted that such vandalism often sees an uptick at the end of the school year, and it was generally agreed that police reports on the vandalism should be filed.

Work on the Konarcik Park disc golf course was also touched upon, though park board commissioner Mary Gardner, who has been overseeing this work, was absent.

Pfund gave an update from Gardner, speaking on the progress that had been made toward setting up new signs at course holes.

“New signs are ready for production and should be ready by the end of the month,” Pfund said. “Once this is complete, the kiosk – which will be a sign at the first whole with the course name and layout will be designed. She’s also looking into benches for the holes that don’t have these.”

In her note, Gardner thanked those donating to or working on the project for their support.

It was also discussed earlier in the meeting that the owners of a business beside William Zimmer Memorial Park had experienced trouble with park-goers parking in their lot.

As the business seems to already have a sign noting that parking is only meant for customers, it was suggested the police be contacted should any further incidents occur.