City officials are proposing new bathhouses for Lake Jacksonville.
According to Recreational Facilities Director Kelly Hall during a Parks and Lakes Committee meeting this morning, the plan is to replace the current bathhouses and build new ones in the rear part of the lake’s current concessions building.
Hall says the current bathhouses are in “deplorable” shape, and are not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
“We’re hoping to revamp the concession building and put the new bathhouses in there. We’re gonna make the bathhouses ADA-compliant, as well as the concession building,” says Hall. “We feel this is a cost-saving from starting from scratch and building a whole new structure. [Due to] compliance with the state plumbing code, and our public risk inspectors, it’s necessary to do that.”
There was $150-thousand earmarked in the capital improvement budget for the bathhouse renovation this year, but Hall says this project will run closer to $200-thousand due to, among other things, the cost of the water line installation.
Hall notes during the winter, city employees don’t have access to clean water at the lake. He says this will change that.
“In the wintertime, when we blow out the lines, access to sanitary facilities is very limited for the employees, so we’re gonna correct that problem,” he says.
The committee approved the idea. The full City Council is scheduled to vote on the matter on Monday.