Iowa City residents raise concerns over closing downtown Robert A. Lee pool

IOWA CITY — As Iowa City weighs the possibility of closing the pool at the Robert A. Lee Community Recreation Center, which the city says is in need of extensive repair, residents are voicing concerns over losing a centrally located recreational opportunity.

The city is in the process of re-imagining recreation in Iowa City while also evaluating current conditions, life span and programming of its facilities under the Gather Here Recreation Master Plan. The draft plan includes big-picture ideas for the next 10 to 15 years, said Juli Seydell Johnson, the city’s Parks and Recreation director. The goal of the master plan is to shape the facilities and programs to better serve the community.

The draft recommends adding a warm-water fitness pool to the Mercer Park Aquatic Center Pool and closing the pool at the downtown Robert A. Lee center. It also recommends renovating the 73-year-old City Park Pool to make it more accessible.

The recommendations, which also include improvements to Scanlon Gymnasium and athletic fields, were put together after last year’s public input events and analysis from BerryDunn, the consulting firm working with the city. The city had a second phase of community feedback last month that included two open house events and asking residents to submit online comments.

Council discusses master plan

The Iowa City Council discussed the recreation master plan at its work session this week. The council did not make any decisions about the plan Tuesday and will likely continue the discussion at its July 12 work session.

“This is a major thing to talk about,” Mayor Bruce Teague said.

Council member John Thomas said he was “very hesitant” to give up the Robert A. Lee pool because of its central location, adding that the pool is open year-round.

“In my view, the idea would be to simply commit to the location and then rethink what that pool is so that we get a better match between what we're hearing in the report,” Thomas said.

Teague and Mayor Pro Tem Megan Alter both expressed wanting to get more feedback from residents before commenting on specifics. Council members also discussed the future of recreation in Iowa City.

“I think we need improve upon and create a better future of our existing facilities, first and foremost, but just be aware that even that is going to have a huge price tag,” Alter said. "We're really going to have to consider that in a very, very realistic way.“

Residents push back

The 58-year-old pool at the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center is in need of “extensive and expensive repair,” according to the consulting firm. The cost to fully renovate the pool and locker rooms is estimated between $4.5 and $5 million.

The recommendation is to add a warm water pool next to the existing Mercer Aquatic Center pool, which is in good condition, and close the pool at recreation center. Adding the warm water pool to Mercer is estimated at between $8.1 and $9 million.

Seydell Johnson said among the issues at the Lee pool are the condition of the underground pipes, filters and pumps — “everything that makes the pool run besides the water.” She added its use is lower than perceived, which residents have pushed back on.

Six Iowa City residents — Jill and Justin Fishbaugh, Anne Stapleton, Susan Mellecker, Mark Cannon and Carin Crain — co-wrote a letter to the council earlier this month. The letter, which has nearly 160 signatures in support, expressed concerns about the potential pool closure and recommended renovating it instead.

The letter highlighted the pool’s central location, how the cost to add the warm water pool at Mercer is higher than renovating the recreation center’s pool and how the number of lap lanes would be decreased.

More comments at meeting

Nearly 20 residents shared their thoughts about the draft recommendations at Tuesday’s council meeting. There were about 40 people there during public comment.

Stapleton, one of the letter’s authors, told the council she has been swimming at the pool for 36 years. “It is accessible to all ages and compatible with the city goals of downtown services that promote a walkable, urban community,” she said.

Other residents who spoke shared their concern about the decrease in lap lanes if the pool were to close. Residents also voiced the friendships they have formed.

“Iowa City has been swimming town my whole life,” said Susan Mellecker, a lifelong resident of Iowa City.

“I've been heartened but not surprised by widespread support for keeping Robert A Lee pool and renovating it,” Stapleton said.

Was pool built on top of a bomb shelter?

Last month, Elsa Fischer, a senior consultant with BerryDunn, said if the Robert A. Lee pool were to be renovated, it would be “very costly.” Part of the reason for the high cost, Fischer said, is because “the pool is built on top of a bomb shelter.”

Both during Tuesday meeting and in the letter to council, residents raised concerns about the validity of this comment.

Iowa City architect Roland Wehner — who helped design the recreation center, among other city buildings, with Henry Fisk — said neither the pool nor the building is built on top of a bomb shelter. Wehner referred to the original blueprints, which are kept at the State Historical Society in Iowa City.

Seydell Johnson, the city’s parks director, said there is no space under the pool but that the building had been designated a nuclear fallout shelter. Signs outside the building reading “fallout shelter” were taken down in 2017.

Extra thick concrete also has been discovered in the building during smaller renovations, Seydell Johnson said. The city believes this is due to the fallout shelter designation.

Wehner, however, told The Gazette the thick concrete was used for structural reasons. The building was not designed with the intent of it being a fallout shelter and nothing was done specifically to meet that requirement, Wehner said.

“It just happens that we had initially decided that we wanted a building that could last 100 years,” Wehner said. “We picked structural elements and constructed components that would be lasting … and so because it was already designed as a better construction, it was then deemed it would be suitable, as many other buildings around the community, as a fallout shelter.”

What’s next?

The Iowa City Council is anticipated to continue discussing the recreation master plan at its next work session on July 12. Parks and Recreation staff is looking for the council to confirm the priorities and strategies so staff can continue working on a final version.

The Parks and Recreation Commission is expected to review the final plan in August or September, and then it will come before council, Seydell Johnson said. The plan also will be available to the public.

Comments: (319) 339-3155; izabela.zaluska@thegazette.com