Town officials on Tuesday approved a plan to bury three propane tanks around Waveny Pool as a first step toward installing water heaters for the upcoming season—a widely anticipated amenity at the popular facility.
The Board of Selectmen by a 3-0 vote approved a $15,000 contract between the New Canaan Department of Public Works and Danbury-based Mitchell Gas to install two 1,000-gallon tanks to serve the main pool at Waveny, and a 250-gallon tank for the kiddie pool, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer with the DPW. The funds had been part of an allowance that came with the Waveny Pool’s original approval, he said.
The heaters are to be delivered this week and the water should be heated in time for the Waveny Pool’s Memorial Day weekend opening, Recreation Director Steve Benko said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall.
Selectman Nick Williams called Waveny Pool a “real success story” and noted that Benko and the Park & Recreation Commission had run with a suggestion from the selectmen to re-examine its original economic model.
“A few years ago I think that pool was losing money hand over fist,” Williams said, a situation that turned around when a plan emerged to allow nonresidents to put in for a limited number of passes, at far higher fees than locals pay (they’re mostly Darienites).
“I know there were some folks in town, including people in town government today, who were opposed to it—‘God forbid that we let non-New Canaan people use the pool—but kudos to you and Park & Rec, because that has put this pool on a stable financial track and that is a story that I don’t think has gotten out there.”
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi noted that Benko, Park & Rec Chairman Sally Campbell and then-member Rick Kilbride were especially responsive to the selectmen’s suggestion to look at how the Waveny Pool—now self-sustaining and with a healthy capital surplus (see pass fees here) that’s used to re-invest in the facility—had been operating.
In the past, opening for Memorial Day “had been a burden” to recreation, but now “with a heater, it will be a home run,” Mallozzi said.
Selectman Beth Jones asked just where the tanks would be buried and whether the contract with Mitchell includes excavation (yes it does).
Benko said the two large tanks would be installed next to the pump house, and that the kiddie pool’s tank would go behind a garbage dumpster at one end of the main parking lot behind Waveny Pool.