By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published February 20, 2024
GROSSE POINTE WOODS —The waterslide at Lake Front Park will be getting significant repairs this year before summer.
The Grosse Pointe Woods City Council voted unanimously Feb. 5 in favor of a low bid from Amusement Restoration Cos. to undertake restoration on the waterslide at a cost of $89,775. Amusement Restoration Companies was one of three bidders that vied for the job.
Officials said work will include applying a gel coat to the interior and paint to the exterior of the two slides, which are connected. This kind of restoration should be done every five years, they said.
“It’ll be a total rehabilitation,” Public Services Director Jim Kowalski said. “We should get many (more) years out of it.”
Although this project wasn’t budgeted, City Administrator Frank Schulte said money is available in the parks and recreation budget because the Lake Front Park splash pad came in well under what it was expected to cost.
“I’m hoping to get it done before we even open the pool in May to get all of the kinks worked out,” Recreation Supervisor Nicole Gehrhart said.
The latest it would be done would be by Memorial Day weekend, when the park officially opens for the summer season.
The waterslide was installed in 1998. The fact that the slide has had such a long life is no accident, officials said.
“We’ve gotten a whole lot of years out of it … but that’s because of the diligence of the (lifeguards) and the residents,” City Councilwoman Vicki Granger said, noting strict enforcement of the ban on rings and other jewelry by waterslide users. “We’re not trying to be mean. We just want to preserve this equipment.”
Park personnel also wax the waterslide and do small repairs each year to keep it in good shape.