Last Remaining Hillsdale County Public Pool To Be Destroyed

The last remaining public swimming pool in Hillsdale County will be demolished and filled in by the end of the year. The Litchfield Community Pool hasn’t even opened up for swimming enthusiasts since it shut down the season at the end of 2018.

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Time has caught up with the aging facility and the costs to renovate the pool and supporting equipment to bring it up to code is just too much for the town to be able to cover. The Hillsdale Daily News reports the final decision has been made. The future of the pool is now sealed. It will be demolished and the remaining area will be filled in. While it only costs about $20,000 to end its potential usefulness, the best bids for renovating or rebuilding the pool and equipment were around a quarter-million dollars over what was planned. That amount far exceeds what the City of Litchfield had budgeted. The shortfall is just too much to cover.

The 4,400 square foot pool is old, at least in terms of pools. It’s 51. And a lot of people in the area are bemoaning the loss, even though it’s been closed for now going on three full seasons. The City originally looked closely at getting the pool and support equipment rebuilt. But the estimates came in way over budget. Not only did the filter system need upgrading along with the filtration system, but there was a crack in the main body of the pool. Bad enough that up to a foot of water level was lost every day. That’s a lot of water and a lot of pumping to keep it at optimum level. And state code requirements for filtration are rigid and that needed attention as well.

City Manager Doug Terry tells the Daily News, “It’s broken our hearts that it has seen its age.”  The city for a short time looked at putting in a splash pad kind of setup at the location. But that idea fell through with a lack of community support. Residents wanted their pool. The end result is no pool at all.