In the Swim: Where Downers Grove Goes to Cool Off

For as many years as anyone can remember, the absence of an outdoor public pool has been a hot topic in Downers Grove.

Without fail, the issue rears its ugly head when the temperatures break 70 degrees and the kids have long empty hours on their hands. However, while the convenience and, in some cases, the affordability of a pool may be as lacking as the facility itself, there places where area residents can go to cool off.

The Pool Pass Exchange program is an agreement negotiated by the Downers Grove Park District which allows residents to swim at pools in neighboring communities at resident rates. These include Woodridge Park District’s Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Center, Lombard’s Paradise Bay Water Park, and the Butterfield Park District Recreation and Aquatic Center.

Summer family membership rates for these facilities cost approximately $130 to $300 per season. Additionally, daily passes are available for families not wishing or able to take on an entire season. Daily passes to area water parks cost less than $15/day.

Downers Grove resident David Fisher, who is a former member of the Downers Grove Swim and Racquet Club board of directors, decided to purchase a family membership at Cypress Cove. At approximately one-third of the cost of the private club, his children have a great place to play. With a number of slides, a playground, and lazy river, Cypress Cove is a great water park, Fisher said. 

Downers Grove’s private pools, the Downers Grove Swim and Racquet Club (DGSRC) and Maple Hill Swim Club, continue to accept new members. The Orchard Brook subdivision has a swimming pool; however its membership is limited to residents who pay for the pool through an annual assessment.  

The DGSRC is situated on a 20-acre campus which includes a recreational, lap and wading pools, as well as tennis and volleyball courts. A season membership costs $420 plus a $274 capital assessment.

Maple Hill Swim Club, originally known as Belmont Pool, has been in the community since the 1920s. At first a public pool, the facility closed during the 1950s. When it was then purchased by some area families, it became a private, member-owned and operated pool.

Karen Martisek, general manager of Maple Hill, said that the club is a nice alternative for people wanting to swim within the community who don't require the bells and whistles offered by some of the water parks. 

A family membership at Maple Hill is roughly $400-$460 per season. “We want to make it affordable and fun. We’re not greedy,” Martisek said. “We’re not the most glamorized place in the world to be. We’re just old-fashioned and friendly and homey."

In 2009 and 2010, the Park District sold daily admission passes to Maple Hill for approximately 50 days during the summer months. Participation dropped 15 percent last year, prompting the Park District to cancel the program for 2011, said Brandi Beckley, public information supervisor.

However, the Park District partners with club partners with Maple Hill, the DGSRC and the Lombard Park District pool to offer summer swim lessons to Downers Grove residents. The lessons had been offered at District 99 high school pools, until the Park District terminated its long-standing agreement with the school district after it increased its rates for the facilities to $27 per hour.

The termination of the 33-year agreementeffectively removed the two high school pools from the options available to Downer Grove swimmers. District 99 has considered reinstating a recreational swim program, but to date has not done so.

Martisek said that there’s definitely a need, as well as a strong desire, for an outdoor public pool in Downers Grove. “We partnered with the Park District for two years. They gave us money and we sold guest passes. People really seemed to appreciate that,” she said.

“We are getting all kinds of calls from people. There’s a large section of Downers Grove that can’t afford us or Downers Grove Swim and Racquet. There are people who can’t pay the money,” Martisek said.

While a public pool might make Maple Hill seems like a “dinosaur," Marisek said "none of our members would leave. We’re a close knit family. We’re just a really fun place to be all of the time.”

Fisher agreed that Downers Grove should have an outdoor public pool. “It’s something that would enhance the community,” he said. “There’s room in Downers Grove for private and public pools. We deserve a public pool, just like any other community does.”

Tomorrow: History of the public pool debate.