BUCKLAND — A home movie about the 1963 dedication of the Buckland Recreation Area’s new swimming pool shows a huge crowd gathered around Olympic gold-medal swimmer and movie star Buster Crabbe. Crabbe starred in Flash Gordon serials and the oldest Tarzan movies, but after his film career waned, he became a promoter and spokesman of the Cascade Pool Co. — the company that built Buckland’s new swimming pool for $30,440.
Crabbe came to Buckland on opening day, and the film shows him plunging into the inviting blue water, gracefully swimming solo. It’s a bittersweet film to see now, in 2016, when the pool’s lining and plumbing has rusted through, new cracks have surfaced, and the pool is hemorrhaging water.
This week, the town Recreation Committee agreed that the 53-year-old municipal swimming pool, which was open for about 80 days this summer, has lasted well beyond its useful life span and must be demolished. But the main issue is what to do with the “Rec Area,” and how to continue to serve its users and to prepare it for the time when the swimming pool can be replaced.
This year, the town applied for a $1.8 million MassWorks grant, to replace the heavily used swimming pool and make other Recreation Area renovations. But the town didn’t get the grant, so Town Administrator Andrea Llamas will revise the scope of the grant request and try again next year.
“We’re all in agreement that we’re not going to give up with this grant process,” said Recreation Committee Chairwoman Cindy Schwartz. “We’re going to push through and try and try every year. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to make this work somehow, someday. We’ve gotten so much support. People are way behind us. They want this to happen,” she said.
At least 100 residents and non-residents, school faculty and town officials wrote letters of support for the grant to build a new three-lane lap pool, with an L-shaped, “zero entry” area, in which the very young and senior citizens can gradually wade in from a very shallow entrance.
But until the town can afford another swimming pool, Llamas suggested the committee look into other improvements to be made to the park, such as a new playground. She said volunteer work at the site could be helpful as a show of support and as an “in kind” match for future grant funding.
Llamas said she will be getting estimates of the demolition cost, and explore whether the pool must removed, or can be buried.
The pool is situated near Clesson Brook, and bank erosion since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 now threatens the access road, parking and septic system to the pool.
In 2013, the town spent $10,000 on a master plan of the Buckland Recreation Area, and that plan shows a new pool complex to be built closer to Route 112, with a playground, gazebo and open play area behind the pool.
In 2015, according to information prepared for the grant application, the pool was open for 76 days and at least 65 people a day used the pool. For the whole summer, almost 5,000 people from several towns attended — not including those who come for swim lessons or senior swim participants. About 10 to 12 young adults, ages 16 to 21 are employed there each season, and 70 children took swimming lessons. Also, the senior water fitness program has become so popular that a second session was added.
Also, the facility has been used every summer for the six-week Mohawk Summer Camp that was started in 1995 and serves families throughout the nine-town Mohawk Trail Regional School system. The camp usually brings in 50 to 60 children per day.
“In the last few years, daily pool passes have grown,” said Schwartz. “This year was our best year. It saddens me to think that we’re not going to be open for safety reasons.”
This summer, the pool leaked so badly that between 1,800 to 2,000 gallons of water were lost overnight, if it wasn’t refilled by water hoses. There were concerns about water use exceeding the well permit, and about leakage affecting the balance of pool chemicals in the water.
The Buckland Recreation Area was formed in 1946, and its swimming pool has been one of the largest attractions for families and children in Buckland and surrounding towns — especially as other swimming holes have been closed because of parking and liability concerns. The $1.8 million MassWorks grant application received over 100 letters of support from people in several towns and of all ages.
The committee wants to have the pool demolition completed before the summer season. “We can’t have pavilion rentals and weddings out there with people driving by that empty, rusty pool,” she said.
Llamas suggested that, if a new playground is built, the committee consider putting in a “splash pad” or low-pressure water spray device where children can play, such as the one in Unity Park in Turners Falls. Llamas said a playground can start small and be expanded over time.