Public pool in Clarence underused due to wealth of backyard pools
Those who do use it like the uncrowded conditions
Tucked away amid the towering trees and lovely lawns of Clarence’s Main Street town park is a pool of sparkling cool blue water. It overlooks a white pavilion and gently sloping parkland.
A “jewel” is how the municipal pool is described.
The problem is people don’t use it.
As it turns out, the residents of the region’s wealthiest community “have their own backyard pools,” said Chris Duff, the town pool’s director.
Councilman Peter DiCostanzo takes his family to the municipal pool all the time. But mostly he sees the same collection of family friends there.
“It’s the I-don’t-have-a-pool-in-my-backyard club,” DiCostanzo said.
Sometimes Clarence’s pool is so empty lifeguards are pulled off duty. The main pool’s capacity is 250, but it has never even come close to that, Durr said.
That is a far cry from the crowded conditions of some city and suburban pools. But Clarence town officials say it’s a taxpayer-provided service that should be used more.
If finally discovered, DiCostanzo said, “I think it would be popular. It’s a great service.”
Getting noticed won’t necessarily be easy. Clarence has averaged 100 new backyard pools each year in the last few years. Of that, 264 were in-ground pools. Another 136 were the less expensive above-ground pools popular with young families.
In Amherst, the numbers are roughly the same, even though Amherst’s population is three times as large.
Clarence’s municipal pool was built in 1968, back when the town was still mostly a cow town. No one anticipated the pool would one day be snubbed by some of its potential clientele, or that people’s lives would be so busy they wouldn’t even know the pool existed.
Carefully maintained but nothing fancy, the pool is 25 yards-by-25 yards, with a separate 45 foot-by-45 foot section for diving plus a separate wading pool with a fountain. It is restricted to residents, although they can bring guests who are nonresidents.
And the pool isn’t exactly empty. Lifeguards — the pool has between 18 and 20 — teach about 350 children to swim for free a year, and the addition of the wading pool five years ago brought in a new crowd as well.
There is also lap swimming and senior citizen water aerobics. The kiddie pool even has a newish canopy, so parents can sit in a shaded area as their children splash away.
“It’s still serving a purpose,” Durr said of the pool.
For the town, though, the pool presents a conundrum. Those who use it appreciate that it is not packed; then again, no one wants taxpayers to take a financial bath because of that.
According to the 2008 town budget, the pool is expected to collect $14,000 in fees this year, mostly for passes. Those range from $1 for a full day of use to $50 for a summer-long family pass.
The pool budget is $115,515.
DiCostanzo points out not every subdivision in Clarence is like ultra-rich Spaulding Lake and not everyone in Clarence is rich enough for their own pools.
