Town To Consider Pool Options

An "overflow crowd" turned out recently to hear what the Cheshire Community Pool Evaluation Committee has come up with to solve the problem of whether to put a structure over the facility to keep it open year round.

The committee met with the Town Council to present three proposals for the popular facility. Two of the options involve the construction of a permanent structure over the pool, while the third is to replace the collapsed bubble with another bubble structure.

"The meeting was well attended…overflow crowd," said council chairman Tim Slocum.  "The preponderance of the crowd was pool friendly pool users. There was also several that spoke that might favor a new solution but wanted specifics on the self-sustainability of the future pools. Others called for summer only."

The cost of the three options range from $300,000 to $7 million. If the bubble were replaced, which seems to be the least popular option, it would be paid for using the insurance money the town received after the old bubble collapsed during the February blizzard.

But the other two options — a tension membrane cover and a polycarbonate  and aluminum structure — would cost millions and would have to be approved at a referendum.

The committee is trying to determine which option is best and if necessary, get it on the November ballot.

Doing nothing is not a good option, Slocum said. The town has invested more than $4 million into the facility in the last two decades, he said, and has $1.5 million of debt service left on it. And without a pool, the town's school swim teams would have to use out-of-town facilities that would need to be paid for, he said.

"I am leaning towards the middle ground, which is the tension membrane structure...that solution is practical and affordable when compared to the greenhouse style structure that failed at referendum four years ago."

To get on the Nov. ballot, the committees needs to present "realistic hard numbers that can be substantiated in time for the capital budget process," Slocum said, which takes place in August. 

"It’s a tall order that hopefully is doable," he said. "I believe the public will see the correctness and soundness in a permanent solution for the bubble. Its time. The bubble testing is behind us and it failed."