During last week’s conference meeting, the Township Council decided to make Haines the sole operating pool for 2023. Northland Pool will be closed this summer, and potentially longer, depending on what the Council chooses to do with it moving forward.
The issue with opening Northland in 2023 is that it would need $70,000 in electrical work to do so. This would take roughly 14 weeks to complete, and there is no guarantee that, at the end of it, the repairs would solve the issue. If it does solve the problem, it would still take an additional $50,000 or so of upkeep to get the pool to a point where it can open to the public. Since the work would involve requests for proposals and formal approvals, it would also take several Council meetings for such repairs to even begin. Even if the Council decided that Northland would open this year, it may not happen until deep into the summer.
Yet, there is an issue with simply choosing not to do the work. If the pool does not operate at all this year, then, mechanically, it may never be able to open again, as without water flowing through, the chlorine could corrode the pipes and render them unusable. Northland has other issues, as well, that require attention.
As a result, we are once again forced to confront the issue of what the long-term plan is for Livingston’s pools, which will likely involve closing one of the two facilities permanently and renovating the other. With the declining use of the community pools by residents as more and more people have chosen to build their own at home, it is no longer financially tenable for Livingston to support two pools, even if this may mean a portion of residents would have to travel a little further to go for a swim. To wit, the pools are run through a utility, which is supposed to fund itself through memberships and other fees. But last year, that utility was more than $100,000 in the red.
This was a decision that was years, if not decades, in the making, and we have finally run out of time. As was suggested by members of the Vision 20/20 committee during last week’s Council conference meeting, we cannot just keep putting expensive Band-Aids on these problems as they arise. A few years ago, for example, the problem was a pump that needed to be fixed. This has been discussed by the Council and the township for several years without moving forward.
We have covered this issue in this paper several times in the past few years. In 2021, we wrote that we hoped to see work begin in the summer of 2022 for a 2023 opening of a new pool complex. That ship has, clearly, long since sailed.
Logistically, at this point, it makes a lot of sense for the town to plan to renovate Northland long-term as the township’s sole pool. We understand why some Council members are hesitant to move forward, though, as there are compelling reasons to stick with both of the town’s pools. For one, 75 percent of current users of the town pools go to Haines, and this is likely because of its convenient location in the center of town. But aside from that centralized location, Northland has significantly more space to expand during a renovation. Haines also has a township well nearby, making it difficult to build out around that property.
What we have said in the past remains salient today: So many of us have fond memories of summers spent at the community pools. Even for those who have never had a membership, the town has previously opened the pools to the public during particularly bad heat waves, giving everyone a chance to enjoy them. And we at the Tribune absolutely love sharing your best photos of poolside fun each season.
So when we are advocating to close one pool permanently, particularly one that is better attended than the other, know that we are doing so not because we don’t see the value in these community assets. It is quite the opposite, in fact. We want to see our pools – soon, our pool – set up to flourish for the next several decades. We believe that creating one exceptional pool complex is the best way to do that.
We trust that the Council will listen to the community as they take these next steps in the ensuing months. The process may be rocky at times. We are sure some residents will be furious about whichever pool ends up being permanently closed. But the end result will, hopefully, be a brand new, state-of-the-art pool complex that the town will, hopefully, be able to operate without losing money.
We hope to see renderings of a proposed redesign of what a new facility could look like, at either or both locations, sooner than later. Perhaps those designs will better inform everyone’s opinions on the subject. A modern, redesigned facility may even draw families back to the pool for the first time in years, creating new memories for the next generation of poolgoers.
In the short-term, while we know that Northland Pool will not open in 2023, the Council still needs to decide if it will pay for the necessary electrical work, or if it will allow the pumps to likely seize as a long-term decision on the future of the pools is being made.
This decision should be made in tandem with the long-term pool plan. If a public hearing, as Mayor Michael Vieira suggested, is the necessary next step, then schedule that immediately. If we have renderings ready for that meeting, something tangible as opposed to simply blue sky ideas, then all the better.
This much is certain: it is time to stop dipping a toe in the water when it comes to making a decision, and dive in.
