By Adam Studzinski

NORMAL – The Normal Town Council voted Monday night to approve new slides at Fairview pool.

Parks and Recreation director Chris Cotten said the old drop slides are beyond their lifespan. The new slides will be more modernized and have a new design.

“The old slides were just drop slides that, literally, you just got on and went straight down into the pool,” said Cotten. “These are a little bit taller, a little bit more fun, have more twists and turns to them, so they’re about three times the height of the existing slides.”

The new drop slides aren’t the only part of the $128,225 project.

“We were also able to get matching shade structures to go over the existing water slides, the bigger slides, on the other side of the park, that will tie the two together,” said Cotten. “Obviously, that will offer shade for our lifeguards up there. It helps reduce their risk of getting skin cancer.

“And they will be replacing the polar bear slide with one that looks like a whale.”

The town had originally budgeted $150,000 for this project.

Also on Monday, the council approved new licenses agreements for the town’s Geographic Information System to allow the system to be used organization wide, instead of individual departments having their own license agreements.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].