The Billings City Council on Monday night effectively killed plans for a pool in Sahara Park in the Heights, but pool backers said they will press on and find another location.

The council declined to consider a 60-day extension that would have allowed the Better Billings Foundation time to work out a new plan with the city for the proposed pool.

After planning to build the pool in Sahara Park and then donate it to the city, the foundation changed course recently and offered to own and operate the pool in the park. According to a draft plan, the city would sell or lease a portion of the 10-acre park to the foundation. The foundation also wanted the city to pay for water costs at the pool.

Master plan

In March, the council adopted a master plan for the park, which is located on Aronson Avenue. The master plan set a Sept. 30 deadline for the foundation to reach a development agreement with the city. Without a development agreement in place, the park master plan would revert to a "Plan B" and be managed as a neighborhood park without a pool, which is what some neighbors preferred.

The Better Billings Foundation, the charitable arm of Harvest Church, asked for an extension on the Sept. 30 deadline, but the council would have to vote on the extension at next week's meeting. No one on the council Monday night asked city officials to put an extension on next week's council agenda.

Assuming they would be allowed to make a presentation to the council, foundation officials didn't speak during the public comment period of the meeting. When foundation director Chuck Barthuly prepared to make his presentation, Mayor Ron Tussing said that he couldn't allow the foundation to speak without reopening the public comment period and allowing anyone else to speak as well. City Attorney Brent Brooks advised against reopening the comment period, saying that people had already left the meeting, possibly assuming they couldn't speak anymore.

Angry public

After the meeting, an angry Barthuly said he was shocked that he wasn't allowed to speak. He had given council presentations on the pool in the past.

"I've never seen them not allow people to speak who have professional experience," Barthuly said. "They allow engineers and architects to speak to the knowledge that they have. It's unfortunate that, rather than let the project proceed, they let the process get in the way."

City Administrator Tina Volek said the city wasn't willing to accept the financial risk and legal liability of owning a large aquatic center. She said the foundation's own research showed that the pool could lose money in a bad year.

By selling parkland to the foundation, the city could walk away from any liability, Volek said. But she said the city land couldn't just be sold to the foundation. It would have to be offered for public sale, and the foundation would have to compete with other potential bidders. Councilman Denis Pitman said developers likely would want to buy the land.

Barthuly said the foundation was willing to own and operate the pool to reduce the city's liability, but it wasn't enough to convince council members.

"If 'Plan A' wasn't ready by Sept. 30, we go to 'Plan B,' " Councilman Mark Astle said. "So you can guess where my vote will be."

Harvest Church, and later the Better Billings Foundation, have been planning to build a Heights pool since at least 2004. The foundation has been working for the past couple of years to raise an estimated $5 million for the project, and Barthuly now says that they will find another spot. Other pool backers were also angry with the council's decision.

"The council tonight didn't want a private group to complete what they couldn't do themselves," said pool supporter Andrew Billstein.