At its meeting on Wednesday, July 10, the Rosendale Town Board voted unanimously to accept a bid of $39,000 from the engineering firm of Weston & Sampson to provide construction documents for the replacement of the Town Pool located on the grounds of the Rosendale Recreation Center on Route 32. The board also unanimously authorized town supervisor Jeanne Walsh to pursue major funding for the project from multiple potential New York State sources. Heavily used during its six-decade prime, the Town Pool has been dry for the past two summers, its crumbling gunite liner no longer watertight.
Rensselaer-based Weston & Sampson is the same firm that was retained by Rosendale in 2012 to conduct a preliminary engineering study of the deteriorated pool to determine whether it could be repaired or needed to be replaced. Citing “unsafe and poor structural conditions along with obsolete mechanical and code compliance issues,” the consultants concluded that the structure was too far gone to be fixed by merely patching up the liner, and recommended extensive repairs that will essentially amount to replacement, at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.
That figure was later adjusted down to $1.2 million, and a fundraising campaign was initiated in 2012. Tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of contributions have already come in from individuals, local businesses, social media campaigns like Indiegogo and events like the Rosendale Pickle Festival to support the Rosendale Pool Project. But at least one large grant will be necessary to fund such a costly undertaking and construction documents are required to qualify the town for funding from state agencies like the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS-OPRHP).
One of the passed resolutions authorizes Walsh to seek a grant of up to $500,000 from NYS-OPRHP under “the provisions of Title 9 of the Environmental Protection Act of 1993 or the Recreation Trails Program.” Another will allow her to fill out a single Consolidated Funding Application that would have the project considered for grants of varying sizes under several state funding programs, including Community Development Block Grants, Market New York, Rural Area Revitalization and other eligible categories.
While acknowledging that the pool project was the town’s current top priority for fundraising, councilwoman Manna Jo Greene also brought to the Town Board’s attention the fact that funding is now available from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)’s Cleaner, Greener Communities program. Such grants could fund revisions of town zoning and comprehensive plans to bring them into alignment with the Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan.
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