Nazareth Pool Must Remain Crown Jewel, Residents Say

Nazareth residents who won’t have a municipal pool this summer for the first time in 74 years jumped in head first Thursday night at the first public forum on what a new Boro-Park pool should look like.

Suggestions, statements and warnings flowed from the 40 or so people in attendance, as well as from moderators Ted and Susan Wallover of Wallover Aquatics of Lancaster, who will be designing the new pool, estimated to cost $5 million, and talked about the successful pool they designed about 10 years ago in Quakertown.

Council President Dan Chiavaroli, meanwhile, announced that a pool study group made up of borough residents is being formed.

He also said Wilson borough is offering Nazareth residents the chance to pay the same rates at Wilson’s Meuser Park pool as Wilson residents pay.

Frank Frey, president and CEO of the Nazareth YMCA, put the pool issue into perspective several times.

”The first factor is getting over the shock of not having a pool,” he said. “The second factor is how quick we can get a body of water in place.”

Ted Wallover previously talked about a new pool opening in 2015.

And Susan Wallover said at one point: “Keep in mind that a pool has to be designed in terms of the kinds of activities” the borough wants.

Some other things said at the forum included:

• Bring back the diving board that was removed from the deteriorated oval-shaped pool. "You bring back the diving board, you bring back the teens,” said Councilman Jack Herbst, who also suggested bringing back night swimming.

• Some folks recommended keeping the existing slide, which is just a few years old. Others were for installing a spray machines. The Wallovers showed slides of spray machines shaped as a giant frog and umbrellas, and one that functions as a mushroom-like water dumper.

• There was talk of floatables to jump onto and jump off from, how water walking “is huge” (Susan Wallover said), installing one or maybe two pavilions for parties and picnics, pools with “beach access” (it has nothing to do with sand but how people get into the pool), and designing a bath house that respects men’s and women’s privacy and conforms with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

• Others talked about a new pool that would fit into Nazareth’s tradition. “The park is the jewel of our town,” said Councilwoman Cynthia Werner. “You could put an ultra-modern unit that would not really fit into the surroundings.” Susan Wallover responded to a similar comment by saying, “You’re talking about something that would reflect Nazareth.”

• Regarding tradition, Ted Wallover said spray machines or water slides could be shaped on the themes of Martin Guitar, Nazareth Speedway or even cement plant towers. Councilman Larry Stoudt suggested possibly getting funding contributions from businesses like Martin Guitar or Andretti Enterprises.

• And although there wasn’t a lot of talk about price tags (Ted Wallover previously estimated a new pool would cost about $5.2 million), several people said the borough has to worry about what it can afford or even what needs to be spent to begin with. “I don’t think you have to go fancy,” one woman said.

• The YMCA’s Frey, stressing he was at the forum as a borough resident, offered more perspective. “What can we design within a realistic budget with parameters that we can afford,” he said, adding that people “want tradition, they want it to be affordable and they wanted it yesterday.”

• Later on, Frey also said, “It’s nice to do a wish list but at the end of the day, it’s dollars that will determine what you’ll be able to build.” He also said, “We’re not going to get everything we want, but we will get something if we work together.”

• Speaking of dollars, Ted Wallover had this advice: “Run your pool as a business and make sure the folks who come have a positive experience. If they feel they’re getting a value for their dollar, they’ll come again and again.” Susan Wallover noted that holiday pool parties can be big moneymakers.

• Cindy Zahn wondered about the people who didn’t come to the now-gone boro-park pool. “Why aren’t people signing up?” she asked.

The Wallovers focused at one point on the Quakertown municipal pool their firm designed about 10 years ago. It features two 1-meter diving boards, a water slide, a renovated bath house and works as a single body of water measuring 11,400 square feet.

Ted Wallover said revenues doubled in the new pool’s first year of operation and has remained a healthy enterprise.

The now-gone Boro-Park Pool, which Wallover repeatedly referred to as “the oval,” had 18,000 square feet of water.

Of course that large space had its advantages, according to Erin Michael, a pool co-manager. “The beauty of the Nazareth pool is that everyone can come and still have their own space,” she said.

Wallover said Nazareth could build a pool like Quakertown’s for around $5 million – about the same amount he previously estimated a new Nazareth pool would cost.

He also said he and his firm plan to hold meetings with the about-to-be-formed pool study group. After that, he said, his firm will create a schematic design about which borough residents will have their say.