BETHALTO - The Village of Bethalto voted Tuesday evening to permanently close a long-time mainstay of the village.

The Bethalto public pool had been in use for decades, but several issues caused its closure. After it was to be sandblasted and refinished, many problems were discovered including exposed rebar, groundwater seepage, and rusty corroded piping, which had not been replaced since the pool's construction.

“Fixing these issues would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which we do not have right now,” Bethalto Mayor Alan Winslow said. “The contractor actually said it would be cheaper to replace it with a smaller pool in its footprint.”

The Village of Bethalto will not be without an aquatic feature near the town's center, however. Winslow proposed and the trustees voted to have a “splash pad” near the former pool's footprint. A splash pad is a collection of fountains and other aquatic features designed mostly for children to beat the summer heat. The Village of Bethalto said that feature may attract more people than the pool did in its final days of operation.

“Last year we had maybe 25 or 30 kids there a day,” Winslow said at the meeting. “When we were kids, it was packed shoulder-to-shoulder.”

Funds for the splash pad are coming from a $165,000 grant. Winslow said construction on the splash pad would take place by this fall or early next spring for the summer of 2017. Other locations considered included directly atop the former pool's footprint and near the sports complex. Either of those options would have delayed construction for at least a year, and the location near the sports complex is not as accessible to children and families walking and riding their bicycles.

Bethalto Public Works Director Rod Cheatham also announced the approval of an estimated $140,000 grant to begin phase one of construction on the multi-use trail, which will connect Bethalto to the rest of the trails operated by Madison County Transit.

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Reporter Cory Davenport can be reached via call or text at (618) 419-3046 or via email at [email protected].

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