Chester Pool report to be released in August
<span>Chester residents and city leaders got another step closer toward a decision on the closed Chester Municipal Pool last week with the news that a written inspection report on the facility will be released sometime during the second week of August.</span>
<span>The pool has been closed since June 27 due to water leakage and safety issues and will remain closed for at least the remainder of the 2014 swim season, according to Chester Mayor Tom Page.</span>
<span>"It's not every day you need an engineer specialized in aquatics," Page said. "I could tell he knew what he was doing and understood the degree of urgency that I have."</span>
<span>The inspection, performed by Burbach Aquatics, Inc. Owner David F. Burbach, will cost the city $2,550.</span>
<span>"It's liable to be several pages long," said Page of the inspection report. "(Burbach) found several issues that were somewhat alarming to him in terms of safety."</span>
<span>The Herald Tribune was given an extensive tour of the facility on July 9, visiting areas both inside and outside the structure.</span>
<span>"I think this guy is very reluctant to do this verbally and it's in my best interest to wait until a written report," Page said. "He did say the electrical system would have to be totally replaced."</span>
<span>Built for $50,000 from 1939 to 1941 and opened to the public in 1942, Chester Municipal Pool was a Works Progress Administration project, one of 27 in the state and 805 nation-wide.</span>
<span>Chester Parks Superintendent Kevin Diercks said Burbach told him that he had not seen a WPA pool as elaborate as Chester's.</span>
<span>"Swimming pools built by the WPA in the 1930s and 40s, most of them weren't $50,000, they were $10,000," Diercks said. "(Chester's) was built for $50,000 and (Burbach) told me it is a marvel.</span>
<span>"I got the blueprints from 1938 and they were preliminary blueprints. The deck was poured totally different from the prints and the 10-foot area did not sit at the shower house."</span>
<span>Burbach conducted a 32-point inspection of the facility, which -- according to other such reports prepared by the company -- include the decking, drain system, piping, bathhouse structure, bathhouse roof, filtration system, sanitary facilities, electrical system, safety equipment and pool enclosure (fence).</span>
<span>An inspection report was prepared by Burbach Aquatics in February for Viroqua Municipal Swimming Pool in Viroqua, Wis. In the report, the company said its anticipated project life for renovation is 25 years and 50 years for new construction.</span>
<span>Like Chester Municipal Pool, Viroqua is a WPA facility built in 1936, but was renovated in 1982. Its pool had been closed since 2003.</span>
<span>"Project categories, which in BAI's opinion, cannot be renovated to achieve a higher probability than 25 years, will be replaced with new," the report said. "This is an important parameter since the Opinion of Probable Construction Cost can be substantially affected due to a higher cost of renovation versus new construction."</span>
<span>The Chester City Council was scheduled to ratify a phone poll of its aldermen on the inspection during its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday as part of the first phase of Burbach's "Schedule of Implementation."</span>
<span>The next step would be a feasibility study, followed by plan options, financing and a ballot referendum - if necessary.</span>
<span>Page has previously said all options would be explored depending on the outcome of the inspection.</span>
<span>"(Burbach)'s exact words were he was 'Glad to be standing there for an inspection and not having a suit on either side,'"Diercks said. "One of them representing the city and another one representing the deceased."</span>