GI Officials Break Ground on Lincoln Park Pool

By: Megan Johnson - Email

Updated: Mon 9:43 PM, Aug 20, 2012

After years of discussing how to build and fund a new pool at Grand Island's Lincoln Park, ground was officially broken on the project Monday.

Now that swim season is done and trees have already been cleared, Hausmann Construction officials say they're on track to have the new pool ready for next year.

Project Executive Chad Wiles says they recently finished pools in two other Nebraska communities between swim seasons too.

"We see it to be kind of typical and so we're used to the schedule," says Wiles. "Axtell and Crete both had the same or similar schedules."

Now that they're ready to get started demolishing the old pool, Wiles says weather will be their biggest enemy when they begin to build the new.

"You always want to try and get the concrete in the ground before winter hits, otherwise you'll probably have a lot to do in the spring," he says. "We're going to push real hard to get the concrete in the ground and get set up to start building the pool house during the winter."

The Community Redevelopment Authority was authorized to issue bonds to pay for the project, but CRA Director Chad Nabity says they're not in the business of building pools but rather neighborhoods.

However, he says it became clear after a community meeting that GI's only deep water public pool is an asset to the neighborhood around it.

"We've seen a tremendous amount of investment over the years and that is really a very good thing, this is just another one of those pegs to help hold things in place and maybe push it forward a little bit," says Nabity.

Nabity says it was important to them to not have the pool miss a season.

"That was something we really tried to avoid and one of the things that as we looked at this [we asked] how do we get it done? Can we get one more year out of the old Lincoln Pool so that we can get through the season?" says Nabity.

Parks and Recreation officials say about 8,000 swimmers took to Lincoln's waters this year, and over 300,000 have utilized it in its 37 years of existence.

The new 200,000 gallon pool will have a two-story slide, two diving boards, and a five lane swimming area.

Construction officials say they're planning to be done before the May 15 deadline.

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