Board closes pool for 2002
The Avalon swimming pool will be closed next summer so officials can find out how exactly to fix the 33-year-old structure.
John Hahn, president of the Avalon Borough Council, said the pool closing will be for only one year unless the repairs needed are too extensive or costly to reopen the pool the following summer.
"But it would be misleading to the public (to say) that it will definitely be closed for only one year," Hahn said. "We need to find out exactly what's wrong with this pool. It's losing about 27,000 gallons a day."
The $20,000 in operating expenses usually budgeted for the pool will go in 2002 toward assessing the extent of the damage at the pool.
Councilman Ed Klicker said the pool, while only 33 years old, has a 70-year-old mechanical system, which was installed with the original pool. The pool is located along New Brighton Road.
"When the pool was rebuilt in 1968, nothing was done with the plumbing," Klicker said. "All of the mechanical portions of it are original."
Councilman Ed Repp said the rate of water loss is about 1,000 gallons an hour, or three-tenths of a gallon per second.
"To keep throwing money at this is not making it any better," Hahn said. "We lost 3.3 million gallons of water last year."
Most of that water found its way to the borough's sewer system somehow. Officials have no idea exactly how that happened.
"The cement around the pool is hollow in spots. That means the water is going somewhere," Hahn said.
"Out of 160 pipes in the filtering system, only one is left," Klicker said.
Klicker said the fact that the council earmarked the same amount of money for the pool as it would if the pool were to be opened says something.
"This council is committed to a swimming pool in this community," he said.
All six members attending the council meeting Tuesday agreed to the pool closing for the 2002 season, with council members Bruce Tindle, Vicki Donnelly and David Haslett absent.
The council will continue Tuesday's meeting at 7 p.m. Friday, which also is known as the borough's cleanup meeting. The meeting will be at the borough building, 640 California Ave.
