Some of you may have seen this in the BCCT yesterday. Maybe Marlys can open up the hot tub for the community. Hopefully next year the pool will reopen for all to enjoy.
from the BCCT:
Morrisville pool dry; another filling up
By: DANNY ADLER and GEMA MARIA DUARTE
Bucks County Courier Times
While one neighborhood pool drowns, another is swimming for the gold.
The independently operated Morrisville Community Pool can’t open its gates after years of trying to stay afloat financially. But the Dolphin Swim Club, which was taken over by Lower Southampton Township last year, has seen its number of memberships soar.
On warm sunny days this time of year, the Morrisville pool is supposed to be filled with watersplashing kids and their sunbathing parents. But this week the waterless pool was filled only with piles of autumn’s leftover leaves huddling against the bottom of the pool’s edges.
A chain link fence surrounding the pool grounds holds up signs every dozen feet or so — No trespassing, they say.
Former Morrisville Mayor Lee Rockafellow, who also served on the swim club board, said that declining memberships and attendance as well as keeping up with new safety laws put a financial strain on the club.
The pool’s phone number is disconnected and its Web site was not available online this week. But borough officials said the financial struggle left residents of the 19067 zip code without a community pool this summer.
Hard times
The pool, built in 1956 at Williamson Park, fell on hard times after a flood of the Delaware River and Canal in April 2005, a former councilman and ex swim board member said in 2007. Those flood waters cracked one of two pools there in half. Memberships went down; the pool’s coffers drained.
That could have been the fate of the Dolphin Swim Club on Bristol Road in Lower Southampton’s Feasterville section, if the township hadn’t dived in to rescue it. The club had threatened to close after losing $40,000 a year for more than 10 years.
Since last year’s takeover, memberships have tripled. The swim club has 895 members this year and is continuing to take memberships.
“We’re bringing the community back to the pool,” said Lower Southampton Parks and Recreation Director Marian Gilbert.
Not just a place to swim, the facility will hold beach parties, karaoke nights, book collections and trivia nights, among other activities.
Before taking over, though, Lower Southampton did a study of the facility, which was built in the 1950s.
The study showed that the pools were in good condition with minor improvements needed to the property. A new snack stand was set up, which will open Saturday. And the township slashed membership fees.
“We are charging medium income per house hold in Feasterville,” Gilbert said Wednesday, adding that the township looked at other Bucks County pools for comparable membership fees.
The newly renovated facility opened Saturday and will open weekends only until school lets out. Starting June 22, it will be opened during the week throughout the summer.
“We figured we will be open for13 logistic weeks of swimming,” Gilbert said. “Each member is paying $10 per week (if they paid before May 5 this year). No more than the movies. And seniors about $5 a week.”
About 360 members showed up each day during the opening weekend, officials said, and about $1,000 worth of daily passes were sold.
“I haven’t seen that number of memberships in a lot of years,” former club board member Gary Lipkin said Thursday morning.
He helped Gilbert with the transition and is still a member.
Financial drowning
Where did the old management of the Dolphin Club go wrong?
Lipkin said several factors played a role in the club’s financial drowning.
He said throughout the years, residents have set up their own pools or headed to the Shore. And many of the children who used the pool are now older.
Even though the township faces the same problem, it has more resources, including the public works department, which assisted with a lot of the renovations.
“It became hard to run it as a private club,” Lipkin said. “I would think it’s less expensive for the township. They already have the staff. We had to hire most of the staff, from management, lifeguards and cleaning.”
Lower Southampton hires 29 people to work the club as lifeguards, gatekeepers and cleaning and game room staff.
Morrisville hasn’t dismissed the idea of taking over the pool, which sits on the 40-acre borough-owned Williamson Park along the bank of the Delaware River. Council members have had casual discussions on the subject.
Morrisville council President Nancy Sherlock said that the borough will maintain the property and make sure all the equipment is secure while it’s shut down.
“Maybe next year we’ll be able to work (the pool) into the budget,” Sherlock said. “There may be some grants available to pay for some of the work that needs to be done.”
Although borough officials said they don’t know the extent of work needed at the pool, they do know that some equipment needs to be repaired and replaced to comply with safety laws.
“I think it’s a major loss,” said Sherlock. “Growing up in the ’50s, we spent every day at the pool.”
May 29, 2009 09:04 AM
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phillyburbscom:http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times/courier_times_news_details/article/28/2009/may/29/morrisville-pool-dry-another-filling-up-1.html
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jmcdelaware94, 05-29-09, 1:25 pm Rate: 0 Report-->
why not just demand that the neighboring communities take it over and support your pool? it seems to be working for the school district.
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Swimfan09, 05-29-09, 9:54 pm Rate: 0 Report-->
I grew up in Morrisville; I belonged to the pool for many years. Was a member of the swim team in the 70’s, it saddens me to see what the Incompetent officials have done to this town over the last 15yrs. The pool closing is just one of the many problems this town is going to be experiencing in the coming years. The town is just an extension of Trenton! I ‘m very Thankful that I do not live there anymore and will always have the fond memories of how clean and safe it once was.Good Luck with a Dying Town.
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