ROCHELLE — The cold spring has slowed work down a bit on the Spring Lake pool deck replacement project, but the old decking has been torn out and progress is being made.
“We pumped the lake down so construction crews could demolition the old deck and haul it away and the next step is to put in concrete piers and concrete entry ways,” said Flagg Rochelle Community Park District park superintendent Don Elliott. “The late spring has slowed many projects, but I’m confident that the new decking will be installed by the May 18 deadline.”
Elliott said his staff is able to control the level of Spring Lake by pumping water into Kyte Creek, and staff is monitoring the levels of both the lake and creek during the process.
“We don’t want to pump the levels down any more than we have to, and we are watching levels of both the lake and creek each day,” Elliott explained. “It’s a spring fed lake and it would fill back up again on its own, but we can just reverse the pump when the project is complete and fill the lake back up again much quicker.”

Elliott said the deck footprint will be smaller, but families will enjoy the nicer composite deck materials and safety railing, as well as be able to access the pool entrances easier.
“The stairs leading down to the deck from the Eighth St. entrance will also be easier to walk down, and later this summer the city is planning to make some sidewalk improvements at that Eighth St. entrance, including a better pick-up area and marked crossings,” Elliott said. “Most of the public uses that entrance, so we want to upgrade it and make it safer.”
In addition to the $200,000 plus investment into the pool decking, the district has also installed a new pump and filter system for the pool that cost more than $200,000.
The old system had been deteriorating and leaking for several years, and state pool inspectors had informed district officials that it would not allow them to open the pool in 2018 unless the equipment was upgraded.
“The pump and filter have been installed, but we won’t be able to check the operating procedure yet until we can put water into the pool, however, I don’t anticipate any problems with it,” Elliott added.
With opening day of the pool approximately a month away, Elliott is pleased with the improvements.
“I’m happy we are able to make these upgrades at the pool for the community,” he said. “Yes, we are spending some money, but we got good bid numbers from Bruns Construction to do the decking work and once everything is done we should be able to continue operating the pool facility for many years.”