Pools Set To Reopen Across The State As Weather Warms Up

By Andrew Hensel, The Center Square:

Some communities in the state of Illinois are giving residents a return to normalcy by opening up public pools this summer.

Clarendon Hills, Park Forest, St. Charles, Wheaton and Palos Heights have all recently joined a list of towns that will be opening up public pools to residents.

Palos Heights Park District spokesperson Linda Bauer says even though the pool will be open, they are “waiting for more information regarding how many people will be allowed per session.”

Residents will have to make reservations for a two-hour time slot for pool use, Bauer said that last year up to 50 people were allowed per session. She said officials hope more people will be allowed this summer.

Swim lessons and workouts will also be back for the Palos Heights Park District. Other municipal pools are offering similar programming and reservation schedules. The park district is not doing pool memberships this season, but Bauer says it will hopefully lead to more drop-in pool users and a sense of normalcy for the residents.

Pools will be opening up across the state starting in June with COVID-19 restrictions including reservations that need to be made a week in advance in some places. Pools re-opening in their communities is part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Phase 4 Mitigation Plan.

The focus of the work of The Center Square Illinois is state- and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility. For more stories from The Center Square, visit TheCenterSquare.com.