Public Pool Project Now Less Expensive After Southington Council Vote

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Town officials have finalized a less-expensive plan to renovate the public swimming pool at Recreation Park, doing so under its original budget after costs to replace it skyrocketed.

The Southington Town Council voted unanimously last month to install a new, hardened polyvinyl chloride (PVC) liner in the pool at the 25 Maxwell Noble Drive facility in Plantsville.

Doing so means, when the pool is reopened next year, townspeople can expect at least two decades of stability at the 35-year-old pool, which has been experiencing cracks in the concrete foundation prior.

Before council approval Oct. 24, the matter was discussed at September's council meeting, when local leaders were still mulling options of the liner versus an outright pool replacement.

The issue was tabled so local officials could get more information on other, less-costly options.

Town-hired consultant Greg Macmillen, owner of North Haven-based Connecticut Custom Aquatics, was brought in Oct. 24 to discuss his recommendation of a pool liner.

He said his company has worked with Southington before, as well as several other municipalities.

Macmillen said a couple years ago the project called for a $1.54 million replacement of the pool, as well as components of the facility such as the kiddie pool area, the patio area and the building housing pool facilities at the site.

But post-pandemic supply chain issues and inflation, which has driven up construction costs nationally, then took hold.

"The cost of that replacement budget went well over budget. Everything just skyrocketed over the next few years," McMillen said.

Essentially, he said, the cost to simply replace the pool took up the full, $1.54 million budget, not including the rest of the job.

That's when the town and Connecticut Custom Aquatics opted for the PVC lining system, in which a high-strength, thick plastic type liner is used inside the pool to keep it from leaking.

"It is actually a renovation of the current structure rather than a replacement of the current structure," Macmillen said.

He described what would go into the pool as being more like a "roofing membrane" than what many people associate with a "liner."

"It is designed to last," Macmillen said. "It creates a solid structure."

Town officials said Southington's finance board supports using American Rescue Plan Act funds for the project, but a referendum will still have to be scheduled for final approval.

Council members were pleased a less-expensive option was found.

The project's new cost to, now, reinforce the pool and replace surrounding amenities is expected at about $1.3 million.

"Thank you to town staff, the town manager, the public works director and all those who have diligently asked questions to ensure that we're checking into this as much as possible, doing our best to save the town money and getting our parks plan in order," Councilman Paul Chaplinsky Jr. said prior to the vote.

His colleague, Councilman Michael Del Santo, also thanked staff for working on a less-expensive option, lamenting the inflation situation affecting nearly all municipal projects.

"I think, unfortunately, this is the wave of what's been happening lately with prices increasing. I think we'd all like to see a concrete pool put in and get 50 years out of it," Del Santo said.

But, he said he didn't want to saddle "the taxpayers with a referendum vote to go over and above what the original cost may have been."

"I just hope things shape up a little better as far as prices rising," Del Santo said. "It's killing us."

For the minutes of the Oct. 24 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.

From Oct. 4: 'Southington Council Tables Action On Rec Park Pool Plan'