By BOB OLIVER
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — The future of one of the city’s four neighborhood outdoor pools is uncertain as tests are being made to determine repair costs.
Crowley Pool, 25075 New York, did not open with the Lapeer, Ten Eyck and Summer-Stephens pools June 14, and city officials are waiting for evaluations to finish before determining what to do with the 52-year-old pool.
“The report we got was that we have a break in the main drain line,” Recreation and Parks Director Greg Orner said. “In a pressure test it is supposed to hold air for about 5 days and they lost it in 15 minutes. So, we have a significant leak.”
Orner said B&B Pools, the company hired by the city to evaluate the pool, estimated the work at $56,000 and included deck and underlayment repair work around the pool.
He said B&B also recommended several other repairs to the pool, including replacing the gutter and return lines and doing repair work to the pool hull, which could push the cost of the project to more than $100,000.
A second company, Northstar Pools, has been contacted to do a second evaluation at the pool and offer their recommendations.
Orner did not give a timetable for the results but said they will be brought before the City Council after they are complete. The council meets twice during the summer, July 22 and Aug. 12.
After the information is in the city can decide to repair the pool or close it.
In 2012, the city closed two outdoor pools at Hemlock and Whitmore-Bolles, leaving it with the four neighborhood pools and two major pools at Dunworth and Ford Woods.
Several residents went before the council at May and June meetings to express their fear that the pool would be closed, but council members stressed that no decision regarding the pool has been made and that no discussions will take place until the results of the evaluation are complete.
Orner said the installation of a splash pad at Crowley Park will begin at the end of the month.
The $175,000 pad is geared toward younger park visitors.
City pools are open daily through Aug. 17.
(Bob Oliver can be reached at [email protected].)