No swimming again this summer at Prospect Lake
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- Created on Thursday, 09 June 2011 20:11
- Written by Aaron Linn
(Lifeguards put a swimming barrier in place in this 2008 photo.)
By R. Scott Rappold, The Gazette
Getty Nuhn has been swimming in Prospect Lake for 48 years.
It’s small, the water is murky and people have been known to catch “swimmer’s itch” caused by snails in the water, but it’s close to home, affordable and offers a rare chance to swim in open water not frigid with snowmelt.
At least it did.
The swimming beach was closed last year because of budget cuts, and despite interest by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in reopening, it seems doomed to stay shut this summer.
“This asset should not be just let to go to pieces. It is a major attraction in our city,” Nuhn told the board Thursday. “The beach is the natural way for children to approach water. It is the natural way to do serious swimming, other than in a chlorinated pool.”
The bath house and swimming beach cost $75,000 a year to operate, and took in $37,000 annually in $3 to $3.75 entrance fees., with a staff of 10 to 12, including lifeguards. The city made up the deficit.
Boats still use the lake, but if people swim, it is illegally, and there can be tragic consequences. In September, two boys drowned swimming there.
The board in May asked city staff to come up with figures on reopening it this summer. The numbers presented Thursday were not encouraging.
Kim King, manager of parks administration, said it would cost $3,000 to repair damage from pipes that burst this winter. The cost to operate it would remain $75,000.
With no money dedicated to it, it would take a month to get city council approval for the extra expenditure, and it would be unlikely the facility could reopen before summer’s end.
“If you look at the revenues and expenses, in the big scheme, it’s not a lot of money. But if you look at the budget lines we’ve been operating in, for us it’s a huge amount,” King said.
She said the city has been talking to others about running the facility, including several nonprofits interested in coordinating special swimming events and using the bath house as office space; the Hillside Neighborhood Association and new city councilman Tim Leigh, who are interested in renovating the bath house as a restaurant with the beach as a patio; and a local individual who might want to reopen the facility next summer to run it as before.
Board members asked city staff to get firmer commitments from the interested parties, as well as to gauge the new mayoral administration on funding lake swimming next summer.
“It’s really important for us to move forward in 2012 to make sure this becomes a reality. I would like to see it open tomorrow, today, but I think we really need to look at making this a reality in 2012,” said board member Nancy Hobbs.
Said member Carl Reinhardt, “It’s been something that the kids look forward to. It’s like our own little beach.”
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