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Williamsport to Demolish Closed Swimming Pools

WILLIAMSPORT — This may not the best day to be at the pool. “Due to the weather, it’s kind of pushed our schedule back a little bit,” sa...
wmpt pools

WILLIAMSPORT -- This may not the best day to be at the pool.

"Due to the weather, it's kind of pushed our schedule back a little bit," said Justin Simpson.

Justin Simpson and other city employees know the pressure is on to make sure Splash Lagoon, the only public pool in Williamsport, is ready for summer.

"We're very fortunate to even have a pool. Most people are closing them and we sunk over a half a million dollars into one," said Simpson.

Just five years ago, the city of Williamsport had three open public pools. With a lack of funding, they had to close two of them. Now they are ready to demolish them.

"Everything will be grassed over. The bath house will stay. That big mound and the pavilion will be removed, and we will use that existing dirt to fill the structure," said Simpson.

The children's pool at Brandon Park closed in 2012. The east end pool at Shaw Place Park closed two years later. Now, city council has approved spending about $15,000 to demolish both pools.

“As you can see there is stagnant water in it. The pool is falling apart. People are climbing in here. It's a huge safety issue for us,” said Simpson.

"It looks terrible, and it's sad because we used to go all the way across town if we want to use it," said Christy Cendoma.

Cendoma used to walk to the east end pool.

"If you let it sit empty, yeah, then things can get destructive when people get bored," said Cendoma.

The pools at Shaw Place Park and Brandon Park in Williamsport are scheduled to be demolished by the end of the month. That's right around the time that the pool at Memorial Park is set to open for the summer.

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