Park Board Reviews Edinborough Pool Plans

To the relief of many area residents, the Edina Park Board on Tuesday agreed with City of Edina staff that ’s pool should be maintained as part of a forthcoming remodeling scheme aimed at making the park more solvent. The recommendation will advance to the Edina City Council, where it will be considered at the Council’s July 19 meeting.

The fate of Edinborough Park’s pool has been a contentious one in the city since January 2012, when a consulting firm presented plans that called for the pool to be filled-in, the exercise track around it closed and those spaces repurposed to allow for additional children’s activities, birthday party rental facilities and office space.

Numerous residents from Edina and nearby cities use the pool and attached exercise facilities on a regular basis; many were in attendance Tuesday night to protest the pool’s possible closing, with some wearing T-shirts that read “S.O.S.—Save our Space.”

Edina Park and Recreation Department Assistant Director Ann Kattreh presented two remodeling plans for the park’s pool; one plan would upgrade the Edinborough Park pool and expand its locker rooms, while a second would eliminate the pool altogether, creating in its place a soft-play area for toddlers along with rental spaces.

Following significant discussion, the board agreed with city staff’s recommendations that the remodeling plan to upgrade Edinborough Park’s pool facilities should move forward for approval by the Edina City Council.

A third remodeling plan which calls for the creation of a public art walk on the upper level of Edinborough Park was also presented at Tuesday’s meeting. Edina Park and Recreation Department Director John Keprios said that, while the option to build a public art walk had been intended to accompany the remodeling plan that would have eliminated the pool, the art walk was by no means dead.

“We can still keep the pool and do the art walk—that is a possibility,” Keprios said afterward. “The art walk really is a response to the City Council’s interest in having a larger indoor walking space, because that seems to be a priority for the community.”

The Edina Swim Club is a major part of the city’s plan to maintain the Edinborough Park pool; the recommended remodeling plan stipulates that the swim club would be allowed to rent out the pool facility weekdays from 3:30-8 p.m. and Saturdays from 7-10 a.m., generating an additional $50,000 in annual rental fees.

Beginning in fall 2012, the club’s use of the pool would displace some evening classes and lap swimmers. Locker room facilities at the pool will be significantly expanded should the City Council approve the project.

Both plans presented by city staff called for the implementation of other cost saving measures at Edinborough Park, including the removal of numerous plants as well as a revised lighting scheme.

“With that we’ll be able to reduce staffing expenses associated with horticultural maintenance while also revising lighting in the park to install energy-efficient lighting,” Kattreh said afterwards.

Kattreh estimated that the city would save $80,000 in staffing costs and an additional $40,000 in lighting costs as a result of the changes.

In other news the Edina Park Board asked that a working group for the city's prospective youth sports dome be reconstituted. Because the Edina City Council determined that the youth sports dome could not be built on land adjacent to the Braemar Golf Dome at its , the group was asked to continue studying other sites for the dome.

Recommendations decided on by the park board last night will go before the Edina City Council at their July 19 meeting.

Correction: June 14, 2012

An earlier version of this article misstated actions taken by the Edina Park Board at its June 12 meeting. The park board did not take a vote on three Edinborough Park remodeling options presented by city staff at that meeting, but was asked to provide review and comment on the remodeling options, only two of which concern the Edinborough Park pool’s future. The article reflects the changes.