Babylon residents ask about town pool future

A group of residents is demanding to know whether a Babylon Town pool that was closed last summer will now be permanently shuttered.

When a sign was posted last summer at Geiger Lake Pool in Wyandanch that the facility would be closed, many residents assumed it was because repairs were being made, said Wyandanch resident Nancy Holliday, a member of the Committee to Save Geiger Lake Pool, a civic group made up of Wyandanch and Deer Park residents. Town officials had not sent a letter to residents to explain the closure, Holliday said.

"We have not been given a definitive yes or no answer" about the Geiger Lake Pool, said Holliday, who said the pool gives local youth a safe place to be in the summer.

Town Supervisor Steve Bellone said that, while a specific letter was not sent out, the pool was removed from the town's recreation guide that is sent to 65,000 homes. The town's website still has the pool listed, however.

The pool was shut because it is "extremely old and has a huge number of problems" that would have required "significant expenditure of taxpayer dollars to repair," he said.

Bellone said the town was still discussing plans for Geiger Lake Park, which is part of the town's Wyandanch Rising revitalization. He said he did not know if the pool would be included in the plans.

"By making repairs, we could be making investments in something that could be changed or torn out," Bellone said. "So while we're in the planning process, we're not going to invest that kind of significant taxpayer money."

Though the pool will be closed this summer, the town has five other pools, Bellone said.

But residents said the nearest pools are miles away and no transportation has been offered by the town. Bellone, who said he had set up a meeting with the committee, said the town is willing to discuss possible shuttle service to the pools.

The pool is the least-used pool in the town, Bellone said.

However, residents said the pool was neglected even when it was fully used.

"It was filthy and they wouldn't drain it half the time like they did the other pools," said Wyandanch resident Laflorence Grant."I think it's a disgrace that the pool was never renovated and left to fall into the shape it's now in," said Deer Park resident Jo Ellen Elsener.

Bellone said the town had made improvements in all of its parks, and a giant slide was put in Geiger several years ago, but attendance did not improve.

Ryquasia Bonds, 16, said she and her friends had frequented the pool for years. "I feel if anything, we should have been notified first," she said. "This affects us. It's not right or fair to the residents."

Holliday said the pool was used by a local day care and summer camp and that she had the signatures of 300 residents who want the pool to reopen. "Young people are dying in this community and they need some options so they're not hanging out on the street," Holliday said. "This pool was one of those options."