Bonacic among those breaking ground
ROSENDALE – Ground was broken for a new community pool at the Town of Rosendale Recreation Center on Wednesday. The new pool should open next summer.
The community, State Senator John Bonacic (R-Mount Hope) and the state
parks department raised nearly $1 million to build the pool after the
65-year-old facility was closed in 2012.
Bonacic, who secured a $250,000 grant for the town, spoke of Town of Rosendale Supervisor Jeanne Walsh’s commitment to the project.
“A lot of the credit goes to Jeanne Walsh, the supervisor, the town board and really the community who came up with their own personal funds,” Bonacic said. “And they keep fund raising to make this pool a reality. Which it will be that time next year.”
The New York State Department of Parks and Recreation added $550,000 toward the construction costs.
Some the fund raising events included donations from the Pickle Festival, a mermaid parade, Williams Lake summer swims, and an upcoming half marathon. Other funds needed for the pool house and eclectic came through donated labor.
Walsh explained that the footprint of the new pool will be about the same, but the layout will be different. There will be a lap pool and a ground zero entrance pool that will be about four feet deep.
Walsh also gave a lot of credit to the community. “Everybody just started to brainstorm – what ways can I help raise money? We had the mermaid parade and now we’re going to have Rosendale Runs. And all those things are about, ‘I have a specialty, I am good at this. I’m going to do this to help raise money for the pool,” Walsh said. “There were just so many ideas. I couldn’t have come up with all the ideas. Everybody came together and made it work.
The town will still have to raise almost $600,000 to fund the $1.5 million
total construction costs, but Bonacic hinted at the possibility of more
help for the pool later in the year.
The old pool will be demolished starting in a week.
