After sitting empty for more than a decade, the pool at Butler Memorial Park is finally being filled.

But don't grab your swim trunks and beach towels yet because it's not being filled in with water, but concrete, as the result of a county grant the city received to demolish the long-defunct pool.

A crew started the demolition Thursday, and Councilman Jeff Smith said the future of the site is much drier.

“Within the next week or two, it should be all down and the pool filled in, and everything will be seeded for the spring,” he said. “Right now, the plan is for it to be a green space, and in the next few years the city will look at some alternatives.”

The Butler County Redevelopment Authority submitted a grant application to the Department of Community and Economic Development for $100,000 on behalf of the city last year. Butler building code official John Evans said the city got about eight bids for the demolition project, and it is entirely paid for by the grant.

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