Townhouses and row homes, each costing around $750,000, will be built where the Willow Swim Club had been located for nearly eight decades.
The former Willow Swim Club, 11300 W. 83rd Street, last saw swimmers in 2008.
The site is at the northwest corner of German Church Road and Wolf Road.
At the Dec. 12 meeting of the Willow Springs Village Board, John Barry of McNaughton Development Inc. laid out plans for the development, ending 16 years of speculation of how the former pool site would be used.
The village board approved rezoning the site from community shopping to single-family residential, allowing construction of the 26-unit development.
During the meeting, Trustee Tom Arra said comments from residents at the zoning meeting left him feeling they were “comfortable” with the development idea.
The developer assured the village that there will be walk-out basements for some of the units.
“There will be a combination of walk-out basements and look-out basements,” Barry told the board. “We’ve designed these for the project.”
Arra had questions about street parking “because there are so many driveways.” Barry said there will be space for needed parking. And driveways will be 20-feet long, allowing two vehicles to be parked outside garages.
Barry noted that final engineering plans need to be submitted to and approved by the board.
The 5.5 acre parcel will be home to townhomes that are 2,400 to 2,800 square feet, “so they are sizable,” Arra said.
Village Administrator Ryan Grace said public comments in the zoning meeting were “generally positive” with some concern about water retention that has been addressed.
Row homes will cost $700,000 to $750,000 each and townhomes will cost $750,000 to $800,000 apiece, Grace said.
Two buildings will have five units, two will have six and one will have four.
The greenspace between those buildings and neighboring homes will be 90 to 100 feet, which Grace said is “more than double” what is required by village code.
After the board gave its approval, Paul McNaughton, founder of the company, spoke briefly.
“We’re so proud to be here. We want to make this an entrance from the north to your community. We’re going to do a helluva job. And I appreciate the support.
“I’ve learned through my 42 years — John and my son are taking my company over — that you’re only good if the village and staff and everyone is behind you. So, thank you very much,” McNaughton said.
Grace said McNaughton attended the zoning meeting, too.
“Yeah, he still cares,” Grace said.
The first step will be filling the pool or tearing out the concrete. “They’ll have to bust it out,” Grace said.
The Chesloe Family in an April 2009 letter announced the pool’s closure “with deep regret and a heavy heart.”
The Chesloe Family had run the Willow Swim Club for 61 years, the letter said. Prior to that, the pool was built and run by Steven Bohm for 18 years, meaning the pool had a 79-year run, the letter said.
“Willow’s membership has declined to a point where it is not feasible to continue operations,” the letter stated.
Membership costs had increased in the last few years of operation.
A family membership was $336 in 2007, $356 in 2008 and $412 in 2009. The latter, of course, was refunded to members after the closure was announced.
When told of the development plan on Christmas Eve, longtime Willow Springs resident Susan Dudek, who lives near the site, said the pool “was the centerpiece of the neighborhood.”
“People would come down here (from other pools) and would never leave. It was always so clean,” she said.
She and her husband Mike joked about the pool water being too warm.
“They did not believe in heating it,” Susan recalled with a laugh.
We lived in Hinsdale in the 50’s and 60’s and we always visited the Willow Springs pool. Clean, fun and well maintained..ALWAYS!!! Learned to swim there.