CIting budget constraints, University of Georgia President Michael Adams withdrew an unpopular proposal to close Legion Pool and build a new pool near Lake Herrick.

"Questions have been raised about the efficacy of the plan in these challenging times, and building a pool in this economic climate may be seen as frivolous," Adams wrote to University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby in a letter dated Oct. 17 and released to the media Monday afternoon.

Adams, who is retiring in June, said he'll "let the next president grapple with this matter as he or she begins the next phase of master planning for the campus."

But he continued to make the case for demolishing Legion Pool in his letter to Huckaby. He argued that the Lumpkin Street pool, on the outskirts of campus when the American Legion built it in 1935, is now in the congested heart of campus; and that students whose fees pay for its upkeep are under-utilitizing it. "This, I believe, is ultimately a matter of appropriate use of student fees and, perhaps more importantly, a matter of the highest and best use of land which lies adjacent to academic and residential facilities."

UGA's plan, unveiled in July, called for turning Legion Pool into greenspace that would one day be surrounded by new dorms or academic buildings. The $2.6 million new pool would have been funded by student fees, reserves and the UGA Athletic Association. Critics—including the state historic preservation office and many UGA faculty and staff who frequent the pool—questioned the expense when repairs would cost an estimated $490,000.

"This is a real victory for the Athens/UGA community and for the moral and legal obligations of UGA for proper stewardship of its historic properties," Grady Thrasher, Kathy Prescott and Sara Baker, who led efforts to save the pool, said in a statement.

A PDF of Adams' letter is here.