ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – For more than three decades, the Northern Lights YMCA pool has welcomed community members for swimming, exercise, and classes. Now, administrators are looking to replace it.
According to Northern Lights YMCA Board Chair Gordy Fitch, the need for a pool is largely what brought the YMCA to Delta County.
“In the mid-1980s, there was a group of people who were very interested in getting a pool,” Fitch said. “Some people had no idea about a YMCA and just started having fundraisers for a pool. One gentleman had gone to the Milwaukee area and discovered YMCAs. Long story short, those groups kind of got together and a YMCA was born.”
In its early days, the Northern Lights YMCA utilized motel and backyard pools for classes.
“This is a very waterfront community, and we didn’t have a good way of teaching other than the public beach, which is only really teachable a couple months out of the year,” said Fitch.
The pool, located on Bay College’s campus, has been in operation since 1989. After 35 years—five years longer than a typical pool of this scale’s lifespan—Fitch says its three main drains are in a state of disrepair.
“They are falling apart—a lot of rust, a lot of cracks in the cement foundations, active dripping,” he said. “They are the main kind of artery to the pool.”
Over the past few years, high water levels have caused the land to shift, furthering the damage to the foundation.
“We’ve re-sleeved these as many times as we can, but we unfortunately, with the high water, just can’t empty the pool any longer and keep it structurally safe,” said Fitch. “If you go underwater, on the side of the pool where the tiles are, you’ll see holes where we just can’t keep those tiles on there any longer. At a quick inspection, it looks great, but when you get down deep, you realize that this pool is beyond its life years.”
The YMCA has launched a capital campaign to replace the pool. It would also be relocated to the main YMCA facility (formerly Bay College’s M-TEC Center), freeing up space for Bay.
“They would love to have this area for weight and conditioning, maybe some other baseball or soccer activities for their growing athletics program,” Fitch said.
Replacing the pool would involve some major upgrades to equipment like the filtration system.
“These are old, antiquated systems that are very, very difficult to find parts for and replace,” Fitch explained. “In the new pool, we would actually use a UV light to filter and keep the pool clean. It’s much safer and more cost-effective.”
The anticipated cost of the project is approximatley $4.5 million. Fitch says about half of that has been raised so far.
“We’ve had some really good successes,” he said. “We’ve been successful in working with Jack Bergman and his camp in securing a $1.75 million USDA grant, so that’s been a really big help for us.”
Fitch says administrators have additional dreams for the pool that would come at an extra cost, if the community supported them.
“We’d really love to have a separate pool for therapeutic use, as well as a separate pool for lap swim,” he said. “This pool right here has only steps and stairs into the pool. We do have a hydraulic lift, but we’d like to be able to do what’s called a zero-entry pool for folks to do a slow roll with their walker or wheelchair and have it be a much more distinguished way for them to get in and out of the pool.”
Fitch hopes to get the project started as soon as possible. With more than 500 swimming lessons in the last year, countless courses taught, and regular use in Delta County Search and Rescue Dive Team training, he says the YMCA pool plays a critical part in Delta County’s wellness.
“This community is safer, stronger, better because of this pool,” he said. “We owe it to the next generations to keep the swim lessons going, keep people active and fit and having fun in this community.”
To contribute to the capital campaign, contact the Northern Lights YMCA staff at nlymca.com or by calling (906) 789-0005.
