ADRIAN — On Nov. 25, the Adrian school district held the first of two public forums to discuss the idea of adding a public pool to a planned May bond proposal. A second forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1, at the Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee, 340 E. Church St.
The topic arose after the Adrian City Commission decided the city would no longer keep putting money into the aging infrastructure of Bohn Pool, which is more than 50 years old. If the school district added a public pool to the bond proposal, it would be part of a partnership with the city in which the city would operate and maintain the pool.
Superintendent Nate Parker opened the Nov. 25 forum by talking about the original plan, which calls for a 20-year, 0.75-mill levy to pay for a community recreation center on the Adrian High School property. The facility would be open to the public when not needed by students. A levy of 0.75 mills would represent about $75 per year for the owner of a house assessed at $200,000.
With the problems at Bohn Pool, Parker said, the question became “is it possible that a pool could become part of this bond proposal?”
Under a few possibilities that Parker discussed, a new outdoor pool built as part of the bond project would not be as large as the pool it would be replacing. “We know that it can’t be the full Bohn Pool footprint,” he said.
One possibility is to build it next to the proposed community recreation facility at Adrian High School. Another is to build it at the Boys & Girls Club building, which is the former Drager Middle School and is still owned by the school district. Building at the high school would be less expensive, because the pool could make use of facilities such as locker rooms that are already part of the plan for that project.
Parker said preliminary numbers suggest that a replacement pool could be added to the project by increasing the millage request to 0.95 mills, which would represent $95 per year for the owner of a $200,000 home.
People at the Nov. 25 forum broke up into small groups to discuss what they liked and didn’t like about the idea, as well as to list questions and concerns. The groups liked a lot of things about the original proposal, including the idea that it could generate income through tournaments and other rentals, and also make sports more accessible for local kids whose families can’t afford the fees involved in travel leagues. When it came to the pool idea, opne topic that came up is that building at the Boys & Girls Club would make a pool more walkable for children who live on the east side of Adrian. One group asked if it might be better to try running public programs in the current high school pool during the summer, and another asked if adding a public pool would be in the best interest of Adrian Public Schools students as opposed to solving a city problem.
