No Easy Answer to Cheshire Pool Bubble Dilemma

With the bubble over the Cheshire Community Pool once again deflated and damaged, some think it's time to ditch it altogether and put up a permanent structure that won't be susceptible to the weather.

But for now, the town is waiting on reports from its insurance adjusters and the bubble manufacturers, according to Town Manager Michael Milone.

"Right now we are gathering information," he said this week. "The insurance adjusters are out there assessing the situation and once we get all of the information back from the adjusters we will present it to the council and see how we will proceed."

With the amount of snow that fell, there was no way to have kept the bubble from collapsing, Milone said. Aquatics Director Sheila Adams was on the phone with the manufacturer during the storm and they had hoped to keep the pressure and temperature up enough to keep it from collapsing, he said, but "in the end, the weight of the snow was too heavy to keep it from coming down."

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Right now it's too early to think about alternative options such as constructing a permanent structure over the pool, he said. The focus now is the repair the bubble to get the pool open again.

"We expect the company to pay the entire cost like it did last time," he said, referring to when in January of 2011 the bubble also collapsed from the weight of the snow from the numerous storms that season saw.

It will be at least another week before the insurance adjusters submit their report, Milone said. "They are still in information gathering mode," he said. "There is still a lot of work to do before they get back to us."

And at Wednesday's Town Council meeting, Chairman Tim Slocum also urged patience, according to the New Haven Register. The council won't be making any rash decision regarding the bubble's future, he said.

Slocum did not return calls seeking comment.

But on the Cheshire Facebook page, residents are clearly getting frustrated with the reoccurring problems with the bubble.

"Make it a year round enclosed pool," Kathy Maloney wrote.

"I vote permanent structure," Amy Bourdon Rydzy said. "There's so many committed citizens to this pool... It's really just a matter of planning and financing. I believe that those residents that value the pool will fight the hardest for it. We are all just waiting for the "What now?"

There is even an online petition urging the town to build a permanent structure around the pool that by Thursday night had garnered 47 signatures towards a goal of 1,000.

Others doubt the town has the financial will to commit to a permanent enclosure.

"They'll never put a permanent structure - the multi millions it would cost - no way," said Jean Ketcher- Gillotti. "If anything, make it a summer only facility. Not enough people use it through the winter to facilitate a $20 million dollar investment."

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