Joliet Historic Preservation Commission weighs future of Nowell Park building

JOLIET – The Joliet Historic Preservation Commission hopes to gauge public opinion on the future of the old Nowell Park pool house, which could be torn down to make room for a new recreation facility.

The Joliet Park District plans to hold two more community meetings in early July about the East Side recreation facility, which could be built in 2016.

The Historic Preservation Commission must decide at some point if it wants landmark status for the Nowell Park pool building, an issue it has considered for months.

“We still have to discuss it,” said Kevin Heinemann, commission chairman. “We want to see what the general public that attends the meeting has to say.”

The commission has looked at landmark status for both the pool building, vacant for years, and a pavilion at Nowell Park. The issue was discussed again at the commission’s meeting Wednesday.

The pavilion is likely to stay, Heinemann said. But the pool building is more likely to be demolished if the indoor recreation facility is built at Nowell Park.

“My personal opinion is it [the pool building] meets all the criteria to be landmarked,” Heinemann said. “But I don’t know if there are votes on the commission to make that a landmark.”

Heinemann acknowledged there are concerns about interfering with the construction of a new recreation facility. But, he said., “What our commission is supposed to do is look at it and say, ‘Does it have the features that it should have to be saved?’ ”

Dates and locations for the two community meetings have not been set, although one will be at Sacred Heart Church. The first meeting was held in May.

The facility is planned for Nowell Park, although the Park Board has not made a final decision.

“We’re 99.9 percent sure that it’s going there,” Board President Glen Marcum said Thursday.

Some engineering work is still being done to determine whether there are floodplain problems or other issues that would interfere with site construction.

One engineering issue that has been cleared up is a sewer line that was being checked at Nowell Park. Engineers were making sure it was not a public line that would interfere with construction.

Marcum said the sewer line led to the pool building and would not interfere with construction.

The Nowell Park facility will be built with funds approved by voters in a referendum in November. Construction is expected to start in spring 2016, with some preliminary work possible this year, Marcum said.