Joliet Splash Station closed for summer and maybe forever

Joliet — The Splash Station Waterpark will stay dry for a fourth summer, and park officials are not gushing with optimism about its future.

The one outdoor public swimming spot in Joliet has been closed on a year-by-year basis since 2019, when the Joliet Park District faced financial problems and opted against opening the money-losing facility.

The COVID-19 pandemic justified keeping Splash Station closed the last two years.

But park officials said they did not give serious thought to reopening the water park this summer.

Splash Station needs expensive repairs at a time that the district’s finances have not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, Executive Director Brad Staab said.

“It doesn’t hold water at this point,” Staab said. “It’s a 20-year-old water park, and it has structural issues.”

No decision has been made about the water park’s future, Staab said.

“It’s disappointing to have it there and not be able to use it,” he said, but he pointed to the decision to close Splash Station in 2019. “We can’t afford to have a facility open and lose $150,000.”

The pandemic cost the park district $3.5 million, Staab said. Reopening Splash Station now would be financially risky.

Splash Station lost $130,000 in 2018, the last summer it was open.

There was a plan to reopen it in 2020 on a limited basis. The slides and Lazy River would stay closed. But a splash pool for kids and lap pool for adults would be open.

Then the pandemic hit, making it impossible to open the pool in 2020 and impractical to try in 2021.

Park board President Sue Gulas now questions a partial opening, saying the closed-off areas could pose a safety hazard for small children.

A previous assessment of the water park’s condition estimated needed repairs would cost $200,000 before the facility could be reopened, Gulas said.

“I’m sure that number is higher now,” she said.

The park board continues to take Splash Station on a year-by-year basis, but opening this year was out of the question, Gulas said.

“There’s no way because of how much it would cost to open it, and if we open it we’d lose money on it,” she said.

Splash Station when it was open might operate 60 days a year, given rainouts and a mid-August closing necessitated by lifeguards returning to school, Gulas said.

“As a park district, we understand that we are here for the community and that things that we provide don’t make money every year,” she said. “But we absolutely cannot lose $130,000 on one venue.”

Community swimming pools often run at a deficit. But the deficit at Splash Station could be bigger because of its size and staffing needs.

The Lockport Township Park District runs two swimming facilities – Chaney Pool in Crest Hill and Heritage Falls Water Park in Romeoville – that Recreation Director Dave Herman describes as “neighborhood pools.”

“We have never made money on the pools, but they are a community service,” Herman said. Deficits, he said, “can run from $15,000 a year to $60,000 depending on the year.”

Swimming pool finances depend on the weather. Typically, the hotter and drier, the better.

Herman said Chaney Pool has seen “an uptick in non-resident memberships” from Joliet with Splash Station closed. Chaney Pool is near Joliet.

Ironically, Splash Station has made money since it’s been closed because the park district has rented the large parking lot to a trucking company for $7,000 a month.

But Gulas said that has to end sometime.

“We don’t want to leave trucks there forever,” she said. “Obviously, we have to do something. We’re not ready to make that decision yet.”