Amidst waning support from Westchester County legislators, Rye Playland’s historic swimming pool will likely undergo renovation rather than removal.
According to county Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, just how the county will choose to renovate the pool will be decided in the coming weeks.
“We don’t want to demolish the pool, but we have some details to figure out if we’re going to rehabilitate it,” Parker said.
According to county Legislator Jim Maisano, a New Rochelle Republican, legislators will pursue a compromise between replacing the pool completely and removing the pool, providing critical renovations to its infrastructure.
“There’s not 12 votes to rebuild the pool, and there’s not 12 votes to knock it down,” Maisano said. “Can we explore a way to save the pool for another couple decades?”
The newest proposal, according to a recent county Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting, would provide a number of critical renovations to the 90-year-old pool, including the installation of new filters and relining work that could cost $2.5 million alone.
According to Parker, though the renovations to the pool were initially projected to cost close to $10 million, newer projections expect the cost to be far less.
While prior estimates showed a cost differential between renovation and removal of about $6 million, new estimates from the county Department of Public Works show a lower differential of about $3 million.
A new estimated cost for renovations, given by the Department of Public Works’ Scott Donnelly during Monday’s meeting, puts the projected cost to rehabilitate the pool at about $7 million, whereas removal costs hovered around $4 million.
Maisano, however, said the cost of the renovations won’t come to light until the work goes out for official bid and that he expects a lower rate than projected.
While the clock is ticking for legislators to make a decision on the pool—an original deadline was set for Sept. 30 in an agreement to operate Playland between the county and the management company Standard Amusements—Parker said the Board of Legislators could ask for an additional extension.
The current agreement stipulates that if a decision isn’t made by the board before the end of the month, the management company could exercise its right to walk away from the contract.
An agreement between the county and Standard Amusements was struck in May and committed the county to $30 million in capital improvements at the park. The 30-year agreement would also see Standard investing $30 million of its own money to park infrastructure and rides over that period.
County Executive Rob Astorino’s Republican administration, as well as Standard Amusements, has already expressed a desire to remove the ailing pool, which hemorrhages 35,000 gallons of water per day, according to a 2007 county report.
But this week, a representative from Standard Amusements told the Review, “Whatever direction the legislators decided to go, we’re fully supportive of that decision.”
According to the agreement, if the pool were to be removed, Standard would have the authority to utilize the pool space for whatever purpose it sees fit.
