Will the Lismore Lake Pool ever reopen?
SPECIAL REPORT: It was Lismore's place to be in those long hot summers from the 1970s to the 2000s, for kids, teens, and adults. Now it's derelict.
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OVER the last eight years the once cherished Lismore Lake Pool has endured a depressing fate.
As weeds grow through cracks in its degraded concrete surface, the future of the now empty pool has been the subject of endless council reports, debates, and thousands of staff hours.
Despite all that, it's fate remains in limbo - a tragic example of political paralysis in local government.
The council has consistently voted not to fix up the once free community pool due to budgetary concerns.
But it has also stepped back from the brink of demolishing it outright.
As a result, a facility which has 40 years of memories behind it during those long hot Northern Rivers summers is now an abandoned eyesore.
Now the council cannot even afford to demolish it.
The council had set aside $450,000 to demolish the pool in the 2017-18 financial year, but this money was used to plug budget gaps in next year's draft budget.
That's good news for those in the community who one day want to see the Lake Pool restored and reopened.
But actually getting a majority of councillors to make it a priority remains an uphill battle.
A brief history
The pool was opened in the 1970s and was one of the go-to spots for Lismore residents during summer.
Pictures of that era show people flocking to the South Lismore spot, with anecdotal reports of 500 users a day.
But 35 years later, in the late 2000s it became apparent that the pool had a litany of issues that would be costly to fix.
For starters, all the pumps and filters needed replacing, and a number of workplace health and safety issues were identified which meant a new pump and chemical shed was required.
The other major issue was an audit by Royal Lifesaving, which found there was a lack of appropriate signage, supervision, the pool fence was too low, there was a lack of disability access and the public toilets were in poor condition.
In short, the 1970s facility needed to be brought up to the standards of the 21st century.
This was beyond the financial means of the council at the time, so in November 2011 the council voted after an agonisingly long debate to not reopen the pool for the 2011-12 summer season.
A staff report at that meeting stated that the council would need to invest $350,000 plus an additional $220,000 for re-surfacing, a new pool pump and associated equipment.
That now seems cheap.
In March 2016, the council voted to commission a report on the reopening of the pool.
An initial assessment by the council indicated that it would cost almost $1 million to refurbish the pool, and $200,000 per year to maintain it if lifeguard supervision was in place.
The council also commissioned an external report from Planit Consulting which was delivered in early 2017, from which the estimated cost was three times higher.
The Planit Consulting report costed a proper restoration of the facility at at least $2.89 million, or $3.17 million including a shade sail.
This would include a comprehensive overhaul of the pool and surrounds, including a full concrete restoration of the pool surface, a brand new toilet block and plant room, new electrics and hydraulics, and a new pool fence.
It was akin to rebuilding the entire facility from scratch except for the initial earthmoving and survey work.
And it was a suitably high price to kill any will from councillors to proceed.
Instead, the council finally voted to demolish the pool and allocated $450,000 to do so at its extraordinary budget meeting in May last year,
At the time mayor Isaac Smith said "it wasn't an easy decision" but the cost to restore the pool was too much for the council to afford on its own and the project would have struggled to compete for grant funding.
"We were basically starting from scratch... it's just not a cost that council can bear," he said.
2018
The worm turned again in February this year when the council voted to delay the demolition until after the council's August meeting.
This would allow time for a newly formed community group, the Lismore Lake Incorporated Committee, to develop a proposal to restore the pool.
President of the Lismore Lake Incorporated Association, Big Rob, told The Northern Star that the group's goal was to redirect the $450,000 allocated to the demolition of the pool to refurbish it and reopen it.
This would be done using local tradesmen and volunteer efforts.
"We had to knock off about $2.5 million from council's ridiculous quote for a basically new facility," Mr Rob said.
They received a local quote for a pool fence for under $2000, and planned to use fill the cracks in the pool with a flexible sealant and paint the entire surface with a chlorinated rubber paint, estimated to cost less than $10,000.
They also developed other solutions, such as making the pool saltwater, and using eight domestic pool pumps in tandem instead of a single large pump.
Mr Rob said the initial quotes indicated the job could easily be done within $450,000, which included honouring some of the recommendations in the Royal Lifesaving report.
"The total cost would have been under $350,000... we were allowing about $100,000 for curveballs from council," Mr Rob said.
Budget blowout kills hopes
Unfortunately in this month's meeting, the $450,000 earmarked for the demolition was one of several cuts made to help balance the budget.
Mr Rob said the LLIC now needed to wait until next year before preparing their proposal to ensure the quotes were accurate.
They are hoping that the council will find the $450,000 next year and will have a report in time for the May meeting to lobby for it.
Councillor comment
Councillor Greg Bennett has been an advocate of reopening the pool since prior to his mayoral campaign in 2016, when he ran on a platform to restore the facility.
He also believes the job can be done a lot cheaper than what was quoted in the Planit report.
He recently pointed to the example of the Friends of the Nimbin Pool getting their own quote to restore or prolong the life of the Nimbin pool.
It was just $55,000 plus GST to install a membrane across the pool surface to seal the pool and cover the degraded concrete surfacing.
"I think the cost of doing Lismore wouldn't be that much more... but the will is not there at council to fix the Lake Pool," Cr Bennett said.
What the mayor says
Lismore mayor Isaac Smith said councillors had just spent the last month making cuts to try and balance the budget, and the Lake Pool was off the agenda - most probably permanently.
"I can't see the Lake Pool at any point back at any point coming back on council's radar," he said.
"I think people care but people realise that we have a lot to do," he said, pointing to voices in the community who wanted the council to prioritise road maintenance above everything else.
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