North Castle Receives Go-Ahead to Open Town Pool on Wednesday
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With the first heat wave of the year having descended on the area, North Castle residents who like to cool off at the Town Pool received some good news on Tuesday.
The town’s Parks and Recreation Department announced that the swimming facility on Greenway Road would open at 10 a.m. Wednesday after the facility passed a Westchester County Department of Health water test. The test was conducted on Monday during a scheduled visit to the site, said town Supervisor Joseph Rende.
Rende said last Friday that the pool had been filled and the chlorine and other chemicals needed several days to reach the correct levels before it could be tested.
At the end of last summer, the county informed town officials that the pool’s water supply system needed to be overhauled. Plans for the system were designed by the town’s engineers and submitted to the Department of Health in early February.
Later that month contractors were retained and work started on May 15, but ran longer than expected.
“It’s not that we didn’t start the process soon enough, it’s just sometimes things don’t go as planned,” Rende said.
Also, slowing down the process was a change needed to filter the well water that serves the complex for showers, drinking water and other uses, he said.
The delays pushed down the pool’s opening several weeks past Memorial Day weekend, the time when pools and beaches traditionally open.
On Wednesday, town residents will be admitted for free with proof of residency. Rende said the town will have a prorated reduction in the town’s pool membership fee for this year’s season. As a show of appreciation for residents’ patience, the reduced early bird rate will be extended throughout the 2024 swim season, he said.
To ensure the town has enough lifeguards this summer, Rende said the decision was made to pay them for the first four weekends of the season even though the pool remained closed. Some municipalities have had difficulties finding enough lifeguards.
“We didn’t want to lose any of our lifeguards and have an issue with that,” Rende said. “We recognized that a lot of the young people that are lifeguards depend on that income, and through no fault of their own, we didn’t want to see them abandon the job here and go somewhere else even though they’re only summer part-time jobs once the summer begins.”
The supervisor said in the near future a summer season will likely be lost because the town will have to decide to either make needed repairs or opt to build a new facility, Rende said.
“I think that within the next few months we’re going to make a decision or we’re going to look into recommendations and figure out whether or not we’re going to, one, either make the repairs for the pool and have the pool as it is, or start from scratch and build a brand-new pool completely,” Rende said.
The pool will be open until 7 p.m. There will be live music starting at 11 a.m.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/