Bloomington City Council approves demolition of O’Neil Park Pool

Posted on August 11, 2020
Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – At the tune of $138,526.20, demolition of O’Neil Park Pool will begin in the coming weeks.

“We’ve been talking about O’Neil Park pool years prior to me getting here. We knew that the life span of this thing was nearing its end,” Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason told WJBC’s Scott Miller. “We were putting band-aids on this thing, getting approval from the state getting approval from the state to open the past couple of years.”

Although the city does not have a final design plan in place, Gleason said the city wanted to get a head-start on demolition while local pools are closed for the summer.

Holiday and O’Neil pools will be closed this summer due to the coronaviurs, according to the city of Bloomington. (Facebook/Bloomington Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts Department)

“The demo contract was $85,000 less than what we expected. So the demo occurs, and we are working towards presenting (the) council with a design for the pool. Probably give two options, one a basic replacement and two, something that is expanded a little bit more (into) an aquatic park and we will see what council says. Hopefully, that’s an item that we get buttoned up and finalized this fall or winter. We’ve got a blank slate next year in 2021, so hopefully, we can build something.”

On Monday night, the Bloomington City Council approved a contract for $138,526.20 with Stark Excavating to demolish the pool.

Both Bloomington and Normal pools are closed all summer to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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