PEORIA — Central Park Pool will be without the Peoria Area Water Wizards this fall, after the swimming organization announced it will move operations out of the 56-year-old facility.
PAWW said it will be leaving the pool and moving operations to Bradley University and Pekin High School, according to an Aug. 11 post on Facebook. PAWW’s head swim coach Derek Amerman told the Journal Star in a phone call Thursday that the group’s lease ends Aug. 31, and the team decided to move in a different direction.
PAWW’s Facebook post previously said the pool would be closing, but the Peoria Park District confirmed Monday the pool is not planning to close and that the park district maintains a good relationship with PAWW. The park district said its Board of Directors plans to soon discuss future ownership and operations of the pool, which opened in 1969.
Founded in the 1970s, PAWW was a Peoria Park District program until 2015, when PAWW took ownership and privatized the pool after the park district voted to close it due to major budget deficits. Increasing fees and raising money to keep the pool going, PAWW took over as a private swim club and has been renting the pool from the park district to other teams and groups.
Following PAWW’s last day at the pool Aug. 23, the club will move to using pools at Bradley and Pekin. The swim club will hold a farewell event on the last day to allow former and current PAWW swimmers a final race in Peoria, along with a memory walk and closing ceremony.
“The Peoria Park District is honored to have supported PAWW’s mission and proud of the powerful role this partnership has played in shaping a strong aquatics community,” Executive Director Emily Cahill said in a release. “The Peoria Park District is thankful for the athletes, coaches, families, and volunteers who have been part of our decades-long community.”
Cahill said the park district and Peoria Public Schools, which co-owned the pool and adjacent parking lot before PAWW took over, are working to determine next steps.
‘Such a need in the community’
Former Peoria High School swim coach Paul Beiersdorf told the Journal Star he was previously involved with PAWW, and believes the main reason the swim group is leaving the pool is because of needed repairs and a lack of funding for those fixes.
The pool once served as a practice facility for Peoria High School and Peoria Notre Dame, and Beiersdorf said it is the only indoor pool in the Peoria area with the correct depth for competitive swimming, with a separate diving pool of 12 feet deep.
Other pools in the area are grandfathered in, Beiersdorf said, but are too shallow to host competitions.
“The park district should keep it open because it serves the community, and the school district should have it open because you’re right across the street from one of the high schools,” he said.
Beiersdorf said it is upsetting to see other pools in Peoria closing, and worries Central Park Pool will close and leave swimmers with few options. Swimming is crucial for kids to learn, he said.
“You’ve got to measure the balance between what’s an essential skill for the community, an essential recreational area for the community, and the dollars spent,” he said. “There’s a need to have some lessons, you know?”
As for the pool’s future, Beiersdorf said he would like to see the city of Peoria take an interest in owning the pool and for stakeholders to work together to keep it going.
“The city, the park district, the school district, come up with a plan,” he said. “It’s ridiculous that it’s going to sit there empty when there’s such a need in the community for recreational areas at the heart of the city.”
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria swim group to leave Central Park Pool. What’s next for the longtime aquatic center?
Reporting by Christina Avery, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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