Residents urge city to save Orchard Mesa pool; volunteers say rec district not feasible

Residents and members of the Save the Pool Committee urged the Grand Junction City Council to reopen talks about preserving and upgrading the Orchard Mesa pool and to consider city ownership and capital planning to keep the facility operating beyond a short‑term commitment.

Mary Anne Teichman, an Orchard Mesa resident who identified herself as part of the Save the Pool Committee, asked the council to add the Orchard Mesa pool to the city’s priorities and to include pool upgrades in the city’s capital outlay plan. Teichman said the school district is willing to transfer the pool and adjacent property to the city, and that a potential medical clinic on adjacent property could provide upfront rent to offset construction costs — a financing approach she said was used in Palisade.

Teichman told the council that the committee supports the city accepting ownership, maintaining the…