Lewiston seeks community input on new water recreation options for Bert Lipps Pool site

A survey goes live today seeking feedback about what water recreation features community members would like to be constructed where the now defunct Bert Lipps Pool is in Lewiston.

Replacing the pool, installing a splash pad or a combination of both are the options in the survey, which will be at the city's website through at least July 23, said City of Lewiston Parks and Recreation Director Tim Barker.

“This is, ‘Where do we want to start and what should it look like?’ ” Barker said.

The estimated price tag of a splash pad, according to city staff, is as little as $500,000 and, unlike a pool, could be set up to be free and require no employees. A pool would cost at least $2 million.

The information gathered in the survey will be presented to members of the Lewiston City Council, said Councilor John Spickelmire at Monday’s city council meeting.

One consideration is the addition of the amenities at the Asotin County Family Aquatic Center, which debuted in 2004, decades after Bert Lipps opened in 1947, said Barker, who was interviewed after the meeting.

That facility has an all-year, indoor lap pool and seasonal outdoor features, including a lazy river, water slides and a wave pool, Barker said.

It’s possible the city of Lewiston could identify a new option for the Bert Lipps site that would complement the aquatics center and the city of Lewiston’s outdoor Orchards Pool, he said.

The city has been dealing with the challenges of what to do at the site of Bert Lipps Pool at 604 13th St. for more than a year.

City officials discovered a total of 90,000 gallons of water were leaking from the pool each day last year and closed it for the season after it was open just one day. The repairs needed are so extensive that the pool is considered beyond repair and isn’t opening this summer.

Water recreation has to always be where the pool is because that’s a requirement of a federal national parks grant the city used to pay for a rehabilitation of the pool’s mechanical system in the early 1990s, Barker said.

While the pipes and the pool are permanently decommissioned, the pool house is in relatively good shape, he said.

It could be upgraded and continued to be used as a pool house if the city constructs a new pool. If the city goes a different direction, the pool house could be repurposed for a different city use or demolished, he said.

In other business the council:

Approved fee increases effective Oct. 1 for a number of ambulance services that were based on information about what other Idaho towns charge.

Basic life support is going from $492 to $655 while advanced life support transport will be $900 instead of $765. Advanced life support treatment without transport is going from $210 to $275. The amount the city charges per mile per patient will be $16, up from $12.

The raises “are necessary to keep up with inflation and cover the rising costs of labor and materials,” according to a summary of the issue for the council agenda. “(The higher fees) will support covering the costs of ambulance transportation and lessen the burden on the overall property tax base through user-fee participation.”

Approved raising certain fees at Normal Hill Cemetery starting Oct. 1. The grave fee for an adult will rise to $1,265 from $1,220 and the opening and closing fee for a single adult will be $1,185, up from $1,133.

The 2015 Normal Hill Cemetery Master Plan recommended annual increases in fees based on the consumer price index, but fees have only been raised twice since the plan was approved, Barker said.

Approved fee increases at Bryden Canyon Golf Course effective Oct. 1. Among the increases are a hike for adults playing a round of 18 holes of golf with a cart. That cost will rise by $7 to $57. The additional revenue will help the city offset an annual increase of $55,000 to $90,000 in the annual lease for the course from the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, Barker said.

Approved the Envision Lewiston 2044 Comprehensive Plan that covers numerous topics such as housing and health care.

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