Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement that public swimming pools can be open in yellow and green phases, with precautions, has some town officials jumping in with both feet while others are just sticking a toe in the water.
Several pools in Butler County moved quickly to plan openings just days after Mr. Wolf issued guidelines to open summer recreation, camps and pools in the yellow phase.
As Cranberry officials announced Tuesday the opening of its parks and recreational centers, township Manager Jerry Andree said the community water park would be open no later than July 1. Officials are rushing to sanitize facilities and Mr. Andree said the park “may be opening earlier than that.”
Butler County Parks and Recreation department announced on its Facebook page that Alameda Waterpark will be opening July 1 with limited capacity.
The governor is requesting that pools follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the operation of aquatic venues that include additional signs, modifying venue layouts to encourage social distancing and staggering or rotating shifts for staff members and life guards, among other things.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said during the county's online press conference on Wednesday that the state's relaxation of pool opening guidelines this past Friday took the county by surprise.
"I will tell you up until Friday we were anticipating there would not be an opening of pools," he said. Changing the guidelines the Friday before Memorial Day “obviously makes it challenging."
"I guess we're going to be evaluating that at this point. It's going to be very difficult," he said. "One of the reasons is trying to have enough trained lifeguards. We have some very, very big pools for the county parks, three big waves pools, plus the other big pool at North Park, I think it might be the biggest pool in all of Western Pennsylvania.
"Whether it can happen or not, we'll see. Even under the best of circumstances in non-COVID years we always struggle to find enough lifeguards to be able to staff the pools that are there," he said.
Pittsburgh previously announced it would not open pools, and that is not changing.
"Given the social distancing and health guidelines for pools that remain in place, the additional personnel required, as well as the hiring/training process and pool maintenance work that would still need to occur, the city does not believe municipal pools can be operated safely this summer,” Mayor Bill Peduto’s Chief of Staff Dan Gilman said in a statement. “We will continue to work on other safe activities for children throughout the summer."
Other communities are still debating opening their summer cool spots.
Commissioners in Scott discussed the matter in a meeting held via Zoom on Monday and decided to assemble a committee to look into options on how and whether to move forward. Concerns included proper distancing, sanitizing, and limiting admission to township residents.
In Dormont, community group Friends of Dormont Pool are rallying to open the landmark that dates back 100 years. The nonprofit organization that was created in 2006 when Dormont Pool was at risk of closing down offered to donate $25,000 to Dormont to go toward the opening of the facility. The borough had previously announced it would not open for the season.
Organizer John Maggio said Wednesday that his group, which has donated money towards the upkeep of the pool for over a decade, wanted to ensure that the borough had the means to open it and give residents a much-needed sense of normalcy this summer.
“I was hoping the donation would help them get it open,” Mr. Maggio said.
Dormont officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
On Thursday, Mt. Lebanon announced it would not open its pool this season.
Greene County officials said Wednesday that they are making plans to open two of its pools; Greene County Water Park and Carmichaels Pool.
Mon View Pool is undergoing renovations and will remain closed this season, according to Brett Moore, county director of recreation.
Mr. Moore said his team is hoping to have the water park and pools open by June 22.
“Originally we thought we were going to have to cancel the season, but after the governor made the announcement last Friday, we determined we could open them and will follow CDC guidelines,” he said, adding that he has received a lot of phone calls from the community about the decision. “People seem to be very happy about it.”
Youngwood Park N Pool in Westmoreland County announced on Facebook Tuesday that it will be opening June 1. The pool is currently accepting requests for pavilions and bookings for pool parties and swim lessons.
Weeks of debate went into the decision to keep Greensburg's Veteran's Memorial Pool closed, according to Recreation Facilities Manager Trudy Ivory.
According to Ms. Ivory, the CDC guidelines of reopening pools made things "difficult" to operate a pool during the green phase. With the limit of patrons a pool can have in order to observe social distancing, Ms. Ivory said that affects the pool's revenue, as she said most pools operate on a break-even budget.
A lack of lifeguard applications also was a factor. And while she said a decline in lifeguards has been an "ongoing national problem" for a couple of years, the virus has made it worse.
"Because either parents aren't comfortable with their kids being in that situation with what's going on, or they're just not looking to put out that money for the certification," Ms. Ivory said.
"None of these decisions were made quickly," Ms. Ivory said. "We are just as sorry as they are that we are not opening."
For Canonsburg's Town Park pool, employees are now just waiting for Mr. Wolf to announce whether Washington County will move to the green phase. They've already started cleaning the pools in preparation.
The pool can open as soon as two weeks – following CDC guidelines – if announcements are made to reopen the county on Friday, according to president of the Canonsburg Park Board and borough Councilman Rich Russo. Mr. Russo said the pool manager has also secured enough staff to operate the pool if it reopens in a few weeks.
"I think we recognize the park is usually important, but yet it won't be normal. We will be reopening in gradual phases, when we are opened, everything will be different. There will be a lot of masking, cleaning and social distancing," Mr. Russo said.
"I think it's very important for us and the community to have a place to go, but yet it won't be normal."
Post-Gazette staff writers Lauren Lee, Sean D. Hamill and Ashley Murray and correspondent Deana Carpenter contributed. Alexis Johnson: ajohnson@post-gazette.com and Twitter @alexisjreports.
First Published: May 27, 2020, 10:30 p.m.
