Peru Pool committee shares preliminary drawings

The Peru Municipal Pool Committee released its first preliminary pool design on the Friends & Family for Peru Pool Facebook page Thursday.

The design, completed by Kmetz Architects, showcased a potential new pool next to the splash pad at Washington Park.

“This design is not final,” the committee said. “It still has to be presented at a public meeting to the community, and then maybe make changes and then presented to the City Council. So this is a step. Many more steps need to be taken before it’s all done.”

According to the committee, the Bather Load, in the primary design, will allow for 434 bathers, with the shallow area at 3,606 square feet and the deep area at 1,164 square feet.

“The architect and the committee agreed it’s best to keep the pool by the splash pad so families with different ages can be together,” the committee said.

The pool committee has continued to have closed-door meetings, but Chairman Rick O’Sadnick has maintained that they will hold a public meeting when the time comes.

The committee doesn’t violate the Open Meetings Act, as there are two aldermen on it.

Mayor Ken Kolowski announced Nov. 25 that he had chosen O’Sadnick, Alderman Andy Moreno, Parks and Recreation Director Adam Thorson and referendum originator Sherry Mayszak to be part of the committee. Peru resident Christine Mitchell, who is the former manager of the Spring Valley swimming pool, was added to the panel in December.

An advisory referendum passed in November, asking residents if the city should construct and operate a municipal swimming pool funded by the use of the hotel/motel tax.

The pool committee will focus on cost, location and design by looking at construction of a municipal pool from the ground up.

To date, the committee has not shared any findings about the potential cost of building and funding a municipal pool with Shaw Media or during council meetings.

For more information, visit the Friends & Family for Peru Pool Facebook page.