NORTH CANTON − Jim Quinn says demolishing the city-owned Dogwood Pool “is a guaranteed way to alienate people.”
There’s a chance “the things people remember most is that you played a part in destroying a beloved community amenity,” he told City Council members on June 15.
Quinn, a city resident and associate lecturer at the University of Akron, said modern pools were not built to the standards that Dogwood Pool was constructed in 1971.
“Dogwood Pool is a very high-quality facility. You know there are buildings standing in Rome that are 2,000 years old that are built to a lower standard than Dogwood,” said Quinn. “If nobody touches Dogwood, it will be there pretty much the way it is in 2,000 years.”
Resident Cindy Risaliti, who lives near Dogwood, said the city should save the $50,000 it would spend to demolish the pool and apply it to updates.
Dogwood Pool falling apart
Steve Schenck, the park operations manager who oversees the pool, and the city’s director of administration, Catherine Farina-Molnar, said the pool has deteriorated to the point it’s costing $15,000 a year in emergency repairs.
That with the costs of pumping water into the pool, much of which leaks, sewage costs, natural gas costs and staff time is estimated to cost $150,000 a year.
The 17,000-square-foot pool, which can hold 607,000 gallons of water, is leaking about 80,000 gallons of water per day, Schenck said. That’s at least 10 times the normal amount for a pool that size.
The liner, which has 10-year warranty expiring after this summer, consistently tears, including four times in recent weeks. After this season, the city would have to cover those repair costs, which often can only be made when the pool is empty.
Beneath the liner, the concrete has voids and cracks, which Schenck said a hand or a foot of a swimmer could get stuck in.
“We don’t know what’s under there,” said Mayor Matt Stroia, who was a lifeguard at the pool during the 1990s. “It’s concrete. It’s going to naturally crack.”
When a pump had to be replaced about two years ago, the model was so old no one sold replacement parts in the U.S., Schenck said. The city paid more than $10,000 to get a replacement from Germany.
Land swap
Under a proposed land swap agreement with North Canton City Schools, the city would get more than 20 acres of school property, which are the sites of the current North Canton Middle School and the former Orchard Hill Intermediate School.
The school district would get the 4.56-acre Dogwood Pool complex. The city would lease the pool complex from the school district until 2030 or 2031 for $1 a year and then demolish the pool.
Proceeds from the sale of land would likely not cover the entire cost of more than $10 million to build a new pool. The city would have to seek grants, sponsorships, naming rights and fundraising, Farina-Molnar said. She did not mention seeking a tax increase to fund a pool.
The cost of repairing the pool so it can operate another decade at most would cost at least a couple of million dollars, said Council member Christina Weyrick, Ward 3, citing the city’s consultant.
North Canton school officials would like the Dogwood Pool property as green space by the new Middle School that opens next year after the city demolishes the pool around 2030 or 2031. The school district, which would demolish the Middle School after the new Middle School is built by Hoover High School, would also gain special-event parking in the Dogwood property.
The city, which would pay up to $60,000 in closing costs and other fees, would get land by its Witwer Park and Arrowhead golf course that could be the location for park expansion or could be sold to developers, possibly for funding to help pay a new pool.
The school district would state grant funding to help cover the more than $1 million to demolish the Middle School. The city would seek grant funding to cover the more than $250,000 demolition cost of Orchard Hill and up to $50,000 to demolish Dogwood.
Stroia said the value of the land the city receives as part of “an opportunity that we’ll probably never see again” would easily outweigh the value of the Dogwood Pool property, which he said the city cannot sustainably operate in the long term.
Farina-Molnar said council has to act by next month as the Ohio legislature could soon force the school district to sell the Middle School site to a charter school.
None of the council members argued that the city should keep the pool.
Weyrick said, “We can’t pretend that our current pool is a solution indefinitely.”
Pierpont said, “It’s not responsible to continue to maintain Dogwood Pool forever more.”
Council voted unanimously to advance the land swap proposal to a second reading on June 22 when the city’s consultant will present the city’s parks master plan. A final vote is expected July 6.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Residents urge North Canton to keep Dogwood Pool despite repair needs
Reporting by Robert Wang, Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Robert Wang, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
