>Village divided
Friday, July 31, 2009
BY MICHAEL SEDON
The Ridgewood News
STAFF WRITER
https://www.northjersey.com/recreation/news/52133992.html
The debate on what should be done with Graydon Pool is heating up this summer, with some residents supporting the push for renovations while others have formed a new group opposing any major changes at the facility.
The discussion is taking place while village officials are touting the clarity and cleanliness of the pool’s water this year, and the village engineer is in the midst of preparing a request for proposals (RFP) to get architectural designs and cost estimates for a redesigned Graydon complex.
Jane Morales and Melinda Cronk, co-chairs of the village-sanctioned Ridgewood Pool Project (RPP), have been conducting research and focus groups for nearly three years. Based on surveys and research it has conducted in the community, the RPP hopes to see Graydon redesigned to include concrete-bottom pools with improved water clarity.
Meanwhile, a group of residents calling itself The Preserve Graydon Coalition (PGC), headed by residents Suzanne Kelly and Marcia Ringel, has organized to try to prevent the transformation of the facility’s current “plake” (pool and lake) setting into a smaller concrete-bottom pool.
“There is an active effort to keep it [Graydon] clean and safe that people may not understand,” Kelly said poolside at Graydon this week. “There are full-time, highly experienced professionals working on this. It’s not just a pond.”
The stated goals of the PGC include: bringing residents into the pool for tours to see the improvements (see sidebar); preserving the open space of the current configuration; and retaining the beach-like setting with sand going right up to the water’s edge.
A concrete-bottom pool would require the sand beach and the main swimming area to be seperated, because sand negatively affects the filtration system of a traditional cement-bottom pool, Ringel said. The PGC also cited the loss of water space in the RPP’s new concept design; the danger of head and spinal-cord injuries in cement-bottom pools; and chlorine’s effect on asthma.
Bolger backs RPP
The RPP’s cause recently received the support of local philanthropist David F. Bolger. In a recent letter from Bolger to the Village Council, he wrote that he became interested in the project in mid-June and has since spent two to three weeks working to assess the financial plan with LAN Associates, an engineering firm. LAN Associates conducted the study at no cost, according to Bolger.
“I think it’s a great community service,” Bolger said during a phone conversation about the importance of renovating Graydon Pool.
The PGC’s initial e-mail circulation and comments made on Facebook, a social-networking Web site, apparently also caught the attention of Bolger. The e-mail referenced Bolger’s June 30 letter to the mayor and Village Council and asked whether he envisions a Graydon that would feature “Martinis by the pool under the lights” and “High-priced gazebo rentals for catered affairs” as ways to boost revenue for the village.
Bolger’s attorney, Thomas M. Wells, sent a notice Wednesday to Kelly, Ringel and fellow residents Neil Munroe and James Borghoff, requesting that they “cease and desist with the circulation of this memorandum,” threatening legal action if the group refuses. The PGC declined to comment on Bolger’s letter.
New estimates
The last cost estimate for the project from the RPP came in at $13.9 million, but the revised estimate that Bolger received from LAN Associates was $10 million, which includes the new pool and the surrounding amenities.
Cronk explained that the initial $13.9 million estimate, prepared by Wisconsin-based Water Technologies, included a lazy river and other amenities that are not part of the current design by Ridgewood resident Nicole Walla, who drew a more natural-looking depiction that did not include many of the perceived “theme park” amenities in the first design.
The RPP and Bolger suggested that the renovations could be funded through pool memberships. Regardless of the final cost, both financial models base the self-sustaining success of a renovated pool on a rate of 6,000 memberships at $150 per person and $750 per family.
Current membership prices are $77 for new memberships; $67 for children under 15 years old; and seasonal renewals of $72 and $100 for sponsored, non-resident members, according to information from the village Parks and Recreation Department.
Membership has dipped in the last 10 years, from a high of 6,000 in 1999 to a low this year of 2,161, according to figures from the parks and recreation office. Nancy Bigos, deputy director of Parks and Recreation, said she feels that the excessive rain and cooler-than-normal weather have kept some people away this year. Kelly said she believes that “negative publicity” is another reason that people have not purchased membership badges this summer.
But RPP co-chair Cronk said the numbers speak for themselves.
“The village charged us with finding out what would bring people back [to Graydon],” Cronk said. “We understand and we empathize with people who don’t want to see Graydon change in physical appearance, but there’s that fine line … Does ‘preserving’ mean keeping it exactly as it looks, or does ‘preserving’ mean preserving the intent of the facility, which is to be a community gathering place? We believe it’s the latter, and unfortunately the community isn’t gathering there anymore.”
E-mail: sedon@northjersey.com
