Palmer Township Pool Plans for Future Facelift

The Palmer Township Community Pool will get a facelift, but it won’t be for a couple of years.

The township plans to apply for a Community Recreation and Conservation grant from the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to pay for rehabilitation of the 40-some-year-old pool.  Grant applications are due April 20.

“The pool condition is getting worse year after year,” said Tom Adams, director of Public Works and Services.

“It was only a matter of time,” said Supervisor Robert Smith. “We had to do something.”

On Monday, Adams told the township Board of Supervisors that work to bring the pool back to its former luster would cost about $852,000, according to a study conducted by Wade Associates, a Harrisburg-based swimming pool and aquatic facilities consultant.

The township hopes to obtain $308,000 from the state in grant monies -- the highest allowable -- and $243,000 in a fixed grant from Northampton County. The remainder of the funds would come from the township.

“I don’t think we could do portions of the project,” Adams said. “We more or less have to do the whole.”

For the 2011 pool season, the township will replace the skimmer and distribution systems.

“That really needs to be done,” said Adams.

Work to rehabilitate the pool, which is on Kingston Road and Route 248, likely will not be done until after the 2012 pool season, said Adams. The township may not receive the grant, if approved, until the end of the year.

“My feeling is we have to go through the 2012 pool season and have the pool design finished, then start with demo after 2012 season ends,” said Adams.

Once the grant gets approved, initial plans are to work on bathrooms at the facility in order to bring them up to the Americans with Disabilities Act standards.