City of Lewiston looks at alternatives for Bert Lipps Pool

A new pool or a splash-pad park could be constructed on Lewiston’s Normal Hill on a schedule that will depend on variables such as the availability of money and qualified building contractors.

Those are possibilities the Lewiston City Council is considering after learning that the shuttered Bert Lipps Pool is beyond repair.

The council sent the issue at its Monday meeting to the city’s parks and recreation commission to get feedback from the community.

“I don’t see this as are we repairing something and ‘Can we put it into this year’s budget?’” said Councilor Hannah Liedkie. “We’re talking about changing the entire landscape of a community pool that’s been there for generations.”

The discussion about the state of Bert Lipps Pool happened at a meeting where the council also voted to begin a process to loosen city rules about cargo containers and gather information about selling a small section of Normal Hill Cemetery along South Way.

Bert Lipps Pool will not be open this summer and was open only one day last year after staff discovered 90,000 gallons of water were leaking from it each day.

The hillside where the pool is at, 604 13th St., is stable, but its shell is worn out and not savable, said Valerie Warren, Lewiston’s facilities supervisor.

The pool house needs a lot of work, and if the facility were refurbished, everything at the pool, which opened in 1947, would need to be upgraded to meet existing requirements, such as ones for water filtration, Warren said.

A splash-pad park might be constructed for as little as $500,000, would require no staffing and could have free admission, Warren said.

A pool, she said, would be at least $2 million.

The city could hire Counsilman-Hunsaker, a consultant, for $36,500, to do a study that would include three options with estimates for construction costs, operation expenses, net income, and attendance.

The report would have recommendations about admission pricing and be based on an analysis of factors such as the area’s demographics, weather and school schedules.

As city officials consider options for replacing the Bert Lipps Pool, the community’s two other public swimming facilities will be open this summer. One is in the Orchards Pool and the other is the Asotin County Family Aquatic Center.

Both can be reached through public transportation, which is free to children in the summer, said Shannon Grow, Lewiston’s community development director.

In other business the council:

— Voted staff to begin work to hold public hearings to amend the city’s zoning code for shipping containers as accessory buildings. Such structures are prohibited everywhere other than the industrial, port and airport zones, said City Planner Joel Plaskon.

But in spite of that rule, city staff estimate hundreds of them are being used throughout the city for storage in residential and commercial areas, Plaskon said.

The containers cost as little as $500, compared with $3,200 as the starting price for prefabricated buildings, he said.

In looking at the issue, city staff checked rules for the cities of Clarkston, Post Falls, Moscow, Boise, Kuna, Eagle and Ammon, Idaho, and found all of them other than Eagle allowed the containers for storage buildings, Plaskon said.

Councilors cited a number of reasons for considering a change in the rules.

“I’m assuming a lot of these homeowners are putting a lot of their items in there to maybe clean up their properties and stay organized,” Councilor Kassee Forsmann said. “So my concern is if we’re (going) to get rid of these, are they now just going to be all over their lawns and less appeasing to the eye?”

If the city allowed containers, the placement of them would go through a permitting process, which would make their use more controlled, she said.

The proposed amendment to the zoning code will go before the Lewiston Planning & Zoning Commission and the city council before it’s finalized.

— Voted to take initial steps to sell a 500-by-100-foot section of the Normal Hill Cemetery along South Way. The land has potential as commercial property and the revenue from the transaction could help provide tax relief for Lewiston residents, Liedkie said. The matter will go before the city council again before a final decision is made.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.