Area pools, water parks aren’t certain to open
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
Jim and Connie Rach are unsure if they’ll be able to open the Pine Cove Beach Club pool in Charleroi this year, but they’re positive it won’t happen by Memorial Day.
“In the 65 years it’s been in my family, this will be the first year we won’t be able to make Memorial Day,” Jim Rach said. “I look forward to it opening on Memorial Day each year, and I appreciate the enthusiasm our members also have for that tradition. I was doing everything I could to keep up that tradition, but unfortunately my hands are tied.”
Memorial Day typically serves as opening day for the majority of public and private club pools, spray parks and other summer fun amenities in Western Pennsylvania, but this year many organizations and municipalities are postponing their opening day plans.
And some will keep pools and spray parks closed for the whole summer.
Allegheny County Parks announced Friday that its pools and spray parks, including the spray park at Round Hill Park in Elizabeth Township, the South Park Boyce Park wave pools and others, won’t be opening this summer.
A spokeswoman for the McKeesport Mayor’s Office confirmed Friday that the Renziehausen Park spray ground will not open on Memorial Day and the city will not even consider opening it until Allegheny County is moved to the green phase of the state reopening plan.
She said at that point, city leaders will discuss whether it is safe to open the spray park this year, depending on guidance from the state and county departments of health.
White Oak spokeswoman Michelle Gessner said the borough has not made a final decision about if and when Heritage Hill Pool will open this year. It traditionally opens on Memorial Day. She said council is expected to discuss the matter during Monday’s meeting.
West Newton Community Pool Board President Nancy Molovich said the board is “up in the air” about whether the popular swimming spot will open. The pool still needs to be filled, but that can’t happen until the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County can install a new water meter.
“(MAWC) said it takes two people to install the water meter because the line is so big, and they can’t send two people out at a time right now because of the coronavirus restrictions,” she said. “Maybe since we’re in the yellow phase now they can come out next week and fix it, but I just don’t know.”
Molovich said the pool board plans to talk with borough officials next week about if and when to open the pool and what restrictions and additional safety measures will need to be put into place if it opens this summer.
Sheri Antol, spokeswoman for Monongahela Valley Country Club, said the staff there is working to make sure the pool is ready to open when the state gives the OK. However, she said “we just don’t know” when asked if she has any prediction for when the pool will open.
The City of Pittsburgh also announced Friday that its pools and spray parks won’t open this year and The Great Race and Pittsburgh’s Independence Day fireworks are also canceled.
Jim Rach is trying to view the glass as half full.
“I’m going to stay positive,” he said. “My hope is to open. I have to make a responsible decision on behalf of the club’s finances and our members’ safety. I have not thrown in the towel. I’m just not ready to make the call yet.”
He said the decision to open this summer could be difficult, depending on when he is permitted to do so and what restrictions look like at that time.
“It’s not just all about the colors,” he said. “If we go to green, the governor will lift his restrictions but we still need to comply with the guidelines from the CDC about social distancing and public gatherings.
“It all comes down to: What are the requirements? What are the demands?”
If pools aren’t allowed to open until near summer’s end, Jim worries the club might not be able to attract enough guests or sell enough 2020 memberships to make up for profits lost during the TIME the pool will have been closed.
“If it costs $100,000 to open the pool it costs $100,000 whether you open it now, a month from the end of the season,” he said.
A few of the variables that will go into Rach’s decision about whether to open the pool will include taking a look at the financial books, input from club members, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state Department of Health concerning social distancing and public gatherings and how many people he is allowed to admit into the pool at a time.
He encourages families that regularly purchase memberships to do so this year, if they can afford it, but cautions that no refunds will be offered if the pool doesn’t open in 2020. Those who buy memberships this year will “lock themselves in” for a membership for the 2021 pool season if the pool stays shuttered through 2020, he said.
Jim said the point of continuing to sell memberships this year before he knows if the pool will open is to “build a nest egg” to ensure he can have enough capital to open on Memorial Day 2021, and to make sure the pool and its mechanical parts — which have to be turned on periodically or serviced whether or not the pool is open and generating revenue — can stay in working order for next year.
The Buena Vista Volunteer Fire Company, which runs the Buena Vista Swimming Pool in Elizabeth Township, and the Monessen Elks did not respond to requests for comment prior to press time.
