Pleasantville Pool Project Plan Progressing, Final Cost Due By February
Plans for a refurbished Pleasantville municipal pool are progressing as village officials and the project engineer focus on the filtration building design that would prevent debris from polluting the pool after major storms.
Steve Rimkunas of Rimkunas Engineering said his team is currently determining the new pool’s water volume and is working with de Bruin Engineering of Westbury, N.Y. on the analysis.
“The water volume controls everything that we do and then we can set up our filtration system which drives the design of the filtration building,” he said.
In 2019, a severe storm caused substantial amounts of mud and silt to roll into the pool causing the water pumps to fail. Moving and rebuilding the current filter room, which has long been considered noncompliant with the Westchester County Department of Health’s code, had been advised in the past.
With Nannahagan Pond nearby, major storms have posed a risk of overflow into the pool. Village Administrator Eric Morrissey said finalizing an analysis of Nannahagan Pond and some remedial work may add to the cost of the project, currently estimated at about $3 million.
“What we’re coming to see is that these 25- to 50-year storms are not happening every 25 or 50 years,” Morrissey said. “So we need to rethink about protecting our assets in light of that.”
The size and design of the new filtration building will accompany the final pool design to be submitted to the county Department of Health next April.
“In terms of safety when it comes to waterborne diseases that can occur within a public pool, we have to make sure the disinfectant (used) meets the New York state sanitary code that is specific to swimming pools,” Rimkunas said. “The code is extensive and very detailed.”
When the county Department of Health approves the design, it will conduct a final review to ascertain whether it meets safety protocols, he said. The village expects to put the project out to bid by early May and award the bid in June. Construction would begin once the pool is closed at the end of next summer.
Morrissey and Rimkunas expect to have an estimate of 90 percent of the project’s total cost by early February.
“At that point we can move forward with a bond resolution which gives us the authority to borrow up to a certain limit,” Morrissey said.
The cost of the new pool will mostly be funded by a bond, which would be subject to a permissive referendum. Board members have stated there could be a modest increase in pool membership fees to help defray some of the expense.
The Pleasantville Pool Task Force had previously proposed a design for the pool based on a survey that attracted about 1,000 responses from residents. The new pool is expected to be 11,017 square feet, about 20 percent larger than the current pool, have a zero-entry area, additional lap lanes, a water slide and possibly a diving board. The kiddie pool will include water geysers.
A series of inspections by the county Department of Health will be done during construction to ensure the pool is being built according to the approved plans. When construction is complete, the Department of Health will do a final inspection and certify the pool has been built correctly.
Rimkunas said he is confident that the village could open the new pool for the 2023 season.
“We will start construction the day after you close (in 2022) and you will be open for the next season,” he said. “This is what we’re set up to do. And then everybody can go swimming, and everyone will be safe.”
Abby is a local journalist who has reported on breaking news for more than 20 years. She currently covers community issues in The Examiner as a full-time reporter and has written for the paper since its inception in 2007. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/
