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‘A lifetime of memories’: What will it take to rebuild Moores Park Pool?

Council plans to use federal cash to assess public pool repairs

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A six-figure lifeline from the Lansing City Council could serve as the starting pistol for fundraising efforts to finally repair and reopen the shuttered Moores Park Pool in southwest Lansing — and possibly just in time to celebrate the iconic pool’s centennial anniversary. 

A spending plan set to be introduced this month by City Councilmen Peter Spadafore and Brian Jackson aims to shuffle over at least $118,000 of the city’s federal COVID-19 relief funding to cover architectural renderings (with specific cost estimates) to rebuild the public pool in Moores Park. Officials hope to set specific fundraising targets this year and reopen the pool as early as next summer. 

“Before we can formalize a formal plan for fundraising, we need real numbers to show what it will take to get this done,” said Mary McGuire, president of Friends of Moores Park Pool, a group of local residents that formed shortly after the city closed the pool in late 2019. “We know the price of everything has gone up, especially lumber and other construction materials. This will give us a number which we can use to actually launch a real fundraising campaign.” 

The $118,000 is set to come from $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding that Mayor Andy Schor has allocated for the Council to spend, essentially in whatever fashion it deems fit. The funding proposal will still require support from at least three other Council members to pass. The cash would then be used to map out a complete plan for repairs. 

“We decided $118,000 isn’t a big ask here — at least to get a grip on the situation,” Spadafore said. “If it’s going to cost $20 million to fix it, that’s a different problem. This is a start.” 

Tucked into a hill overlooking the Eckert Power Station, the Moores Park Pool was designed by former Lansing city engineer Wesley Bintz and also carries historical value beyond a simple neighborhood oasis. Built in 1922, and opened the next year, the ellipsoidal fieldstone rock-ring structure is the oldest surviving Bintz pool in the nation, and as such it carries a bit of a cult following among history buffs. In 1985, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. If the city hadn’t closed it down in 2019, next summer would have marked its 100th season. 

After it closed, back-of-the-napkin estimates from Schor’s administration showed the pool required at least $1.2 million in repairs before it could be safely reopened to the public. Leaks were also costing the city about $1,400 per week while chlorinated water spilled into the soil below. The pandemic (and resulting financial uncertainties) only knocked the pool lower on the city’s budgetary priority list. This summer is the third year the pool has been closed. 

And since 2019, the estimated repair costs have only swelled while the pool deteriorates.  

Last March, a $60,000 assessment — which was split between the city and the Friends of Moores Park Pool — showed that the facility would require at least $4.8 million in renovations. A more expensive option, which would fully modernize the pool, listed the repairs at $6.3 million. 

Some officials have suggested the fixes could be done for less, but there hasn’t been a fresh estimate in more than a year — and the cost for building materials has skyrocketed nationwide. 

In addition to setting clear fundraising targets, McGuire said the new assessment would also enable the Friends of Moores Park Pool — and other groups like Preservation Lansing and the Historical Society of Greater Lansing — to pursue grant opportunities to help cover the repairs. 

“The next piece will be the construction bid. We’ll take a look at the numbers, and then we can launch a fundraising campaign and the city can assist with grants,” McGuire said. “We have people who are willing to help raise money, but we don’t have a place to put it until we have some real numbers and things in place. This assessment is about putting our ducks in a row.” 

Last year, Schor cited “many financial demands for necessary services across the city” like road and sidewalk repairs, in submitting a budget proposal that didn’t include any funds for the pool. 

Data provided by the city showed the number of annual visitors at the pool more than doubled from about 3,000 in 2014 to more than 6,000 in the summer before it closed. Still, the estimated repairs would swallow more than a full year of the city’s parks millage — and then some. For Schor, that expense was simply unreasonable amid hundreds of other competing priorities. 

And to the chagrin of local preservationists and residents who yearn for another summer swim at Moores Park, the Council passed another budget last month without any cash for the pool. 

Adolph Burton, 71, grew up a “stone’s throw” away from the pool in the early ‘60s. He was among several residents who spoke up to the Council at public comment last month to defend the pool. 

“We miss the pool. It’s a great thing for the community, as well as for the park itself. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone barbecuing or picnicking in that park,” he said. 

Burton remembers the Moores Park Pool as a local melting pot for racial diversity at a particularly tense time in civil rights history. And he envisions a similar future ahead. 

“There’s so much gun violence right now because these kids have nothing to do,” Burton added. “I’m not saying that the pool would stop the crime, but if we saved one life because that pool was open, that’d be a big deal to me. It’s important that these kids have more things to do.” 

Bill Castanier, president of the Historical Society of Greater Lansing, told the Council that he used to live down the block from the pool and swim there illegally every night in the summer. 

“We feel we’re taking away a whole lifetime of memories for our next generation,” he said. “If we save the pool, there’s no reason that this pool won’t be usable 100 years from now. We desperately want to be in a position where we can be able to say: ‘We saved the pool.’” 

Preservation Lansing President Dale Schrader said this year is a “turning point” for the pool. 

“We want this one chance to live to see another day, so we’re not asking for $6 million. We’re asking for $118,000 for construction documents,” he said. “With construction documents, it’s shovel-ready. It’s ready to go out to bid for contractors. They’ll help us nail down the costs.” 

More than $3.2 million of the $49 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding that was handed to the city this year was dedicated to the city’s parks — but still nothing for the pool. 

Schor said this year’s budget was crafted exclusively to fund “existing things.” And by the time he had heard about the $118,000 request from the Friends of Moores Park Pool, he had already hashed out a plan on how to spend the city’s $49 million in COVID-19 relief funding, he said. 

“I left $1 million in that plan for the Council to spend, so I suggested they take it to the Council,” Schor added. “I fully support the plan to look at this. We just don’t have $6 million to spend. There are too many other great things we can do across the entire city with those dollars.” 

Spadafore said he expects the Council to formally allocate those requested funds in July.   

And for neighborhood organizers, it represents a $120,000 glimmer of hope that could help get the pool opened by next summer — perhaps 2024, McGuire said. The Friends group has already managed to raise more than $30,000 from more than 350 donors, with more to come. 

“We don’t at all feel abandoned by the city. I think we all recognize this isn’t going to happen overnight,” McGuire added. “We have a good, working relationship with the city. This is a good step. We just need to find a way to make this happen, because it’s too important to let it go.” 

Before it closed, the pool was open daily for 10 weeks a year, with annual costs of about $100,000. Schor said he’s “absolutely” committed to rolling the pool back into the annual budget — including staffing and routine maintenance costs — after a viable plan for repairs emerges. 

“Even if it’s fixed, we still don’t have a sustainability plan,” Schor cautioned. “I’d love to have the pool opened up, but only when we can afford to do it. We have a lot of priorities that need funding. This is on the list of things I’d like to get done, but we still need to figure things out.” 

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