Municipal Pool Closes for Summer, Maybe Forever

The Chatham Municipal Pool opened Monday for the last time in 2010, and possibly forever.

"When I was a kid it was elbow-to-elbow in here," said Liz Holler, 57 of Chatham as she looked out on the empty pool a few minutes after it opened on Monday afternoon.

By 1 p.m. a total of three members were using the pool while a group of four lifeguards sat in the shade nearby. A fifth lifeguard sat in the appointed station above the pool to watch.

Sue Pauer of Chatham Township said that if the pool closes she won't have a pool to go to next summer. Pauer doesn't own a car and can walk to the Municipal Pool but not to the Colony Pool and Tennis Club on School Avenue in the township. She waded to the edge of the pool and began doing arthritis exercises, which she said are best performed in water. "I really do not want the pool to leave," she said.

The pool is old and in dire need of repairs, whch could cost the borough roughly $250,000, according to estimates provided by borough council members. The Memorial Park and Pool Committee has explored various options, and has looked at potentially closing the pool.

Concerned residents formed a group called "Friends of the Memorial Park Pool" and have circulated a petition in support of keeping the pool open. They noted that the $250,000 repairs would cost each household, on average, about $15.

"It would be a shame if Chatham Borough didn't have a pool for its residents," Anna Tivade said at a council meeting in May. "For many people, acquatic exercise is the only form."

The kiddie pool on site will also soon need to be replaced, and that will cost $60,000.

Voters will determine the fate of the Municipal Pool in a public referendum in November. Home-made signs encouraging residents to save the pool can be seen on Fairmount Avenue in front of the gazebo and on North Passaic Avenue in front of the entrance to the Municipal Pool.