Psst!
Pass it along!
Time is getting short!
If you live in Park Forest you have a chance to decide on the future of the village’s Aqua Center. With a deadline of Oct. 5 looming, as of this past weekend some 430 residents made known their feelings about the future, if any, of the now closed Park Forest Aqua Center.
The 70-year-old, four-pool facility on Orchard Drive was in bad shape and did not open this past season. At first, the village squirreled away some $3.5 million to stop extensive leaks by installing new pool liners and gutters.
Not good enough, said the Illinois Department of Public Health. More work was needed before it could re-open, it added.
Psst!
Can you spare a couple of million?
The price tag to complete the renovation plan grew to more than $7 million. That forced Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Adams to produce an alternative proposal which would turn the adult pool into a four-lap, 74-foot pool with a 3- to 5-foot depth next to a new splash pad.
Park Forest Recreation and Parks Director Kevin Adams. (Village of Park Forest)
That option was one of four plans Adams presented to the Village Board in August and the one he recommended. An estimated cost of $6 million would be underwritten with more than half the money coming from a terminated debt service agreement.
So now that you’ve been talked into shaping future summers for residents, you need to go to the village website, villageofparkforest.com, where you will see six green dots. Click on “Aqua Center Updates” to vote on which, if any, proposals you prefer.
You will be asked to identify yourself as a Park Forest resident and then vote for (1) the total remodeling of the pools at a cost of $6 million to $20 million; (2) a combined pool and waterslide using the existing footprint and eliminating other pools at a cost of $8.5 million; and (3) Adams’ recommendation of a smaller pool and a new splash pool at a cost of $6.5 million.
Each option includes a potential property tax hike.
Through excursions into the often lunatic world of the internet, one can foresee four voting possibilities. Adults and families with small children each want a pool for themselves. Those who fear higher property taxes because of the renovations will not support any option.
Those who don’t vote will probably resort to complaints on the internet.
According to Village Manager Jon Kindseth, the $10 fee nonresident fee paid to hob nob with friends at poolside will have to pay a heftier entrance fee when (and if) the Aqua Center opens the gates again in 2027.
The guv lived here
The recent death of former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar was still fresh in the mind of Park Forest Village Trustee John Moore during last week’s Village Board meeting in which he commented on time Edgar lived in Park Forest.
A portrait of former Gov. Jim Edgar surrounded by flowers is placed next to his casket during his funeral service at Central Baptist Church Sept. 20, 2025, in Springfield. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
According to Moore, Edgar moved to the village in 1968 while serving as a legislative aide to Russell Arrington, then the Illinois Senate president.
“He walked to the gas station where he caught a bus, which took him to the train station, taking a train downtown, Moore recalled. “The train took him downtown and he would walk a mile or two to get to Arrington’s office. “
Going back and forth took its toll on Edgar.
“By the end of the week he was wiped out. He was so tired,” Moore said.
Moore said Edgar’s death would be the time to “let Park Forest know he was actually a Park Forester.”
He then admitted he did not know where Edgar lived in Park Forest, then turned and asked an elderly reporter if he knew where Edgar lived in Park Forest.
The scribe said he did not.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/22/shnay-park-forest-aqua-center-survey/
