Quarry Beach needs $86,000 in repairs

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BATAVIA – The Quarry Beach will need an estimated $86,000 in repairs before it can reopen next summer.

“It’s all things we have to do to make sure the quarry will be able to operate next season,” said Mike Clark, executive director of the Batavia Park District, which operates Harold Hall Quarry Beach.

That includes repairs to the quarry’s pump house and lift station.

“We found that we have a breach of ground water entering the basement of the pump house,” Clark said. “The water is coming in at a faster rate than the typical sump pump can handle.”

Batavia Park Board commissioners are expected to discuss the repairs at their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 17. The work includes an estimated $36,500 in repairs to the pump house along with circulation lines and $50,000 in repairs to the lift station.

“Some of the work might be able to be done in the spring,” Clark said.

Attendance at the unheated quarry continues to drop. The Batavia Park District recently released its season-end report for Quarry Beach, which showed that 20,866 people attended the quarry this summer, down from last year’s attendance of 22,554.

The quarry continues to be a money loser for the district. The quarry ran a $16,484 deficit this summer after having a $15,000 operating loss last year.

“I think we would have lost more if we hadn’t made the adjustments we did,” said Batavia Park Board President Patrick Callahan.

In an effort by the park district to control costs, the park district shortened hours at the quarry this summer and stopped selling concessions.

By setting the quarry’s hours at 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, instead of 12:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day, staff costs were $30,000 less than last year, said facility manager Andrea Hatzinger.

Not all the patrons liked the change, Hatzinger said. As a compromise, she is recommending that daily hours be from noon to 6 p.m. and that the quarry remain open until 7 p.m. one night a week for family night.

She also is recommending that patrons continue to be allowed to bring in their own food, but that the district also open a limited version of a concession stand that would sell candy, chips and ice cream along with pop and water.

Voters in November 2008 soundly rejected building a $36 million community recreation and aquatics center at the quarry.

The park district had touted the proposal as a way to upgrade the facility.

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