Most New Hyde Park residents agreed Tuesday the pool at Clinton G. Martin Park needs an update, but seniors and younger people disagreed on how it should look.
“We understand that it’s your money that we’re going to be spending on this project, and we don’t take that lightly,” North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said during a public meeting at the park.
Town officials, architects and engineers presented a nearly $15 million plan to revamp the pool deck and replace infrastructure to more than 150 people on Tuesday.
The plan would resurface the deck and adjacent eating area with concrete pavers, install plants and water spray features, add 6,000 square feet of shade canopies, move and update the kiddie pool, and add space for concerts and public events, said architect Jeremy Linzee of the Patchogue-based firm bld architecture.
The pool itself would get a new vinyl lining but would not be moved or otherwise altered, a priority for a committee of seven residents who advised planners on the project.
Designers also made room for a water slide, an idea the committee pushed but many residents booed at Tuesday’s meeting.
The men’s and women’s locker rooms would be consolidated in the eastern pool building to create space for a meeting room in the north building, which would be insulated and air-conditioned for year-round use, said engineer Bob Holzmacher of the Ronkonkoma-based firm J.R. Holzmacher engineering. The park’s tennis courts would also be resurfaced, he said.
The project would also gut and replace the pool’s aging pumps, pipes and electrical system, which town workers are “keeping … together with glue and duct tape,” New Hyde Park civic activist and committee member Marianna Wohlgemuth said.
“It has to be done if we want our pool to run efficiently,” Wohlgemuth said.
Officials said the plan is tentative and the designs, cost and timeline can be adjusted according to community feedback.
The town has not done major work on the pool since it opened in 1962, town Parks Commissioner Jill Weber said. It is open only to residents of the Clinton G. Martin Special Park District, which covers North New Hyde Park, the Village of New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Herricks and Searingtown and runs the park.
Construction would close the pool for about 14 months, including the 2017 summer pool season, before it would reopen in June 2018, engineer Jason Pontieri said.
The town-operated park district would borrow $12.89 million to fund the construction, which would eventually more than double residents’ park district property taxes over the 20-year borrowing period, town Director of Government Relations Steven Pollack said.
Taxes for a home worth $292,000 would rise from $24.50 to $35.43 in the first five years, then to $67 for the following 15 years, he said. A home worth $1.06 million would see increases from $99 to $143 and then to $270 over the same period.
The Town Board will hold a public hearing on whether to authorize the bonds at its June 7 meeting.
Committee members and project proponents said the renovation would increase the pool’s declining membership, defraying the cost to taxpayers.
The new features such as the water slide would attract New Hyde Park’s growing number of young families who feel the pool has little to offer and create dedicated space for kids and adults, resident Kathleen Morrone said.
“The pool, if you have children, is extremely boring,” Morrone said. “There is nothing to do in that pool, and the children really don’t want to sit there in lounge chairs and chat with each other, or stand in the pool and chat with each other, or get yelled at for splashing other people.”
Pool memberships have dropped from about 1,500 in 2013 to about 1,300 last year, Weber said. Property taxes account for about $673,000 of the park district’s $1 million 2016 budget, while memberships cover the other $371,000.
Several older residents, though, said the changes would exclude them by leaving little space for adults to enjoy the pool without being surrounded by children.
“Now you’re going to put a slide in so one person can go down and nobody else is allowed to be in there, so where am I going to get stuck?” resident Leslie Roth said. “Being put on the side with the little kids in three-foot water. You’re limiting the adults.”
Many also expressed concerns that the project would take longer than expected and run over budget, and that new plants and materials would increase maintenance costs.
The town’s online outreach plan also excludes senior citizens who do not use the Internet, resident Gary DeTrano said.
Linzee said the project budget is realistic. The water slide could require an additional lifeguard, but the project is not expected to increase maintenance costs on balance, Weber and Pontieri said.
The town will post information about the project on its website and collect feedback and conduct a survey over a 30-day comment period, Bosworth said.
