Public Enthusiasm Heard at Meeting for New Pleasantville Pool

A two-hour special work session last Thursday on the Pleasantville pool reconstruction featured unanimous support among residents who spoke despite the project’s escalating costs.

About 50 people attended the meeting in person at Village Hall with about another 50 watching via Zoom.

Prompting the meeting was the now-estimated $6 million-plus expense, which could increase property taxes by about $170 a year until a 20-year bond is paid off.

The board is facing a deadline to award a contractor’s bid on the project at their next meeting on Monday, Aug. 12 that would enable work to begin as soon as the pool season ends early next month. Concerns about the tax increase were raised in July along with suggestions to either halt the project or spend funds on other village needs.

When the new pool was first proposed and preliminary designs were presented in 2022, estimates were around $3 million. Last year, with a spike in material costs, estimates rose to $4.7 million. Subsequently, the board was advised that a new pool would have to be protected from flooding, an event that occurs from the nearby Nannahagen Pond and other waterways during heavy rain. The cost of the flood mitigation was an additional $1.5 million bringing the total cost to more than $6 million.

A previous concern was that the tax hike for village property owners would not be shared by Mount Pleasant residents and their children in the Pleasantville School District who use the pool.

Mayor Peter Scherer said part of the town’s residents’ property tax helps support the pool. Also, membership fees are likely to rise. Currently, seasonal family memberships are $480, which could increase by about $190. An individual membership is $240 while seniors currently pay $95.

Scherer said because part of the debt service would be funded by the increased membership fees, the annual cost for the average taxpayer will be reduced to about $120.

“It seems to me the people of Pleasantville are likely to be quite happy to pay about $100 year on average on their property to get a wonderful pool,” said village resident John Blackman. “The pool is an essential part of the village.”

Troy Tassier and Jim Kennedy, co-chairs of the Pleasantville Pool Task Force, spoke about the 2021 pool survey that generated 1,000 responses, which favored rebuilding the pool.

“It was surprising how close it was across the different groups and how they all stated they would pay approximately 50 percent more for a membership to the new pool,” Tassier said.

The new pool would be 11,017 square feet, about 20 percent larger than the current one. A zero-entry area, additional lap lanes, a water slide and possibly a diving board would be included. The kiddie pool would have water geysers.

The board supports the new pool project with the exception of Trustee Yemi Healy, who previously said that funds could be better spent on a new year-round recreation center or multiuse facility.

“I have a very hard time with the fact that there’s, unfortunately, no multiuse space,” Healy said. “It’s (the pool) really confined to these three months. There’s no pavilion. There’s no cover, there’s no splash pad. I think that those spaces could have been incorporated in some way.”

Healy said two of her children attend village camp, and when there is inclement weather, the pool shuts down.

“That’s when there’s nowhere for them to go very quickly or easily,” she said. “And unfortunately, I think that takes it down a notch for me.”

Kennedy, who is a swimming coach, spoke about a typical swim day, which starts with youngsters arriving at 7 a.m., and serves the community until dusk.

“Then my assistant coaches, the teenagers that I work with, take over from there with the little kids, and by 8:30 a.m. they leave and a couple hundred more kids come in with the day camp,” Kennedy said. “A few hours later pool patrons arrive and stay until the sun goes down. When we talk about multiuse facilities, maybe the pool is open for three months, but to me, it’s a unique multiuse facility.”

Applause followed each of the more than a dozen residents who spoke at the work session. Longtime residents recounted how the pool has been a special part of the community and abandoning the project should be avoided.

“The pool is a place where kids have their first job, where they are earning money, feeling good about themselves and keeping the community safe by knowing the rules of the pool,” said Pleasantville resident Kathy Sable, whose daughters were on the swim teams for 12 years.

“Part of being a community is understanding that some of your tax dollars are going to go to things that don’t benefit you and you have to be okay with that,” she added. “Adding the pool is such a community asset because it serves from kids to babies to seniors.”

Chris Homlish and Jennifer Goldblatt spoke of how they grew up in Pleasantville and shared special memories of being at the pool.

“I was lucky enough to come back to this town with my family and attempt to give my kids the same amazing childhood that I had here,” Goldblatt said. “Part of my amazing childhood consists of vivid memories of spending time at the pool.”

Caitlin Rubsamen recalled moving to Pleasantville in 2008 when she was four years old and how this is her fifth season working as a pool lifeguard and her fourth season as both a swim instructor and a certified water safety instructor.

“You walk around now, and I see all the kids I coach on the swim team,” Rubsamen said. “I’m currently a college student and when I’m home from college I act as a substitute teacher for elementary school. I see those kids. They know me. Other members of our pool in our community also talk to me. I get to have conversations with them, care about their lives and what they’re up to.”

Trustee Paul Alvarez said he has been using the pool for 30 years, from the time he was a youngster growing up in the village and now as a parent. The facility has been an integral part of the village’s summer camp program, which helps working families, he said.

Alvarez noted that demolishing the pool would cost the village about $2 million.

A resolution is planned for next Monday’s board meeting to accept and award the bid. If it passes, work is anticipated to start shortly after the pool closes on Labor Day. Work will continue throughout the year with an anticipated reopening next Memorial Day.

“We almost have to do this to preserve the village we have,” Scherer said. “We are sorry the cost has gone up but we have vetted every last thing. I urge you to cement the 100-year legacy of our pool.”