Renovation work on the Lions Park Pool facility in Clarendon Hills is on schedule, with a completion date of Memorial Day weekend in 2026 still as the target.
Meanwhile, planned improvements at Hosek Park, 321 Hudson Ave., have been put on hold while additional study is done there.
The pool, 100 Byrd Court, which is managed and operated by the Clarendon Hills Park District, has been closed in 2025 because work started earlier this year. Neighboring Hinsdale offered Clarendon Hills residents its own resident rate for use of its pool.
Don Scheltens, executive director of the Park District, said work on the pool pretty much will continue throughout, until it’s finished.
“It depends some on the weather during the winter,” he said. “There may be a break because of the winter weather, but they will work as often as possible.”
Scheltens said the work done so far mostly has been demolition and installation of underground infrastructure.
“There’s really not much to see, yet, until they start doing work above ground,” he said.
Plans for the pool renovation include adding new recreational amenities such as waterslides, a spray park and upgrades to the mechanical systems.
Clarendon Hills voters in 2024 overwhelmingly supported an $8 million bond issue by the Park District to pay for the pool improvements, along with some additional upgrades at parks, including a pickle ball court at Prospect Park, which has been completed.
“The improvements at the pool definitely are the major part of this,” Scheltens said.
He said without improvements, the 34-year old pool would soon become inoperable and would have to close due to increased costs of annual maintenance and rising operational costs. And the cost for the pool’s ongoing repairs have delayed the Park District’s ability to do many other capital projects in the parks.
The Lions Park Pool was opened in 1992 and managed and operated by the Clarendon Hills Lions Club. In 2003, the Lions Club decided it no longer was up to those tasks, so the Park District was asked to take over.
The Park District used resident feedback from a pool survey to plan what improvements would be made beyond the important operational workings of the facility. The two main amenities to be added are a double waterslide and a new splash playground, Scheltens said.
For Hosek Park ,the district had planned to seek an Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Grant to cover half the cost of the improvements, but won’t be able to get the grant application completed and submitted by the Sept. 30 deadline, Scheltens said.
“We need to do more study on storm water there,” he said. “We were planning on applying this year, but the floods came from the heavy rains we had, and the residents in that area want us to take a look at the storm water situation before we start any improvements.”
The plan now is to seek the grant next fall and hopefully start work on improvements the follow year.
“We’re not in a hurry,” Scheltens said. “We definitely want to make the improvements, but we want to apply for the grant. Also, adding an ADA pathway in the park is in the plans, and I don’t want to build a pathway that goes under water.”
A gazebo, basketball court renovation and other minor recreational amenities also are planned for Hosek Park.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
