Great Barrington — After completing a long-in-the-works renovation project, the swimming pool at the Berkshire South Regional Community Center reopened on Wednesday, October 4.
The 25-yard, six-lane swimming pool is part of the Norris Aquatics Center. According to Berkshire South Executive Director Jenise Lucey, the swimming pool is over 21 years old, having been added to the building in 2002.
Lucey said that, on average, an estimated 125 people use the swimming pool every day, a total of at least 45,000 people a year. “The groups that use our swimming pool are much more diverse than the groups you see use other pools in the area,” Lucey told The Berkshire Edge. “We serve many senior citizens in the area, and we work with Fairview Hospital to run their aqua-therapy program. We provide swimming lessons to many of the youth in the area. We also have a dedicated scope of programs specifically for people with disabilities and adaptive needs.”
Lucey said that the pool has needed renovations for quite some time. “Over the last several years, we’ve noticed that the bottom of the pool started to deteriorate and chip away from a lot of use,” Lucey said. “There was a lot of wear and tear from those years of use. Every other year, we would close the pool for a short period of time and scrub it down.”
Lucey said that, after many years of use, it got to the point where it was necessary to have the pool resurfaced. She said that the cost estimate for the project was $212,00, and that $125,000 of the project cost was paid for by the Jane & Jack Fitzpatrick Trust of Stockbridge.
Lucey explained that work could not start on the project until last month because all of the pool renovation companies they contacted were busy during the summer months. The project started on September 4, and the swimming pool was subsequently closed for a full month.
“Back in 2020, we started to put together a plan and included a lot of additional things in addition to resurfacing the swimming pool,” Lucey added. “At the center of each lane in the pool there were tiled lane markers. During reconstruction, the workers had to chip away around all of the lane markers.”
Lucey explained that the workers who renovated the pool had to create a rough surface on the pool for the new plaster to adhere to, and they also had to work with the existing lane markers. “The whole process took one week from start to finish,” Lucey said. “We were shocked about how quickly they did it. But then we had to continue with maintenance and brushing for the first few weeks after the renovation before we could add swimming pool chemicals and heat.”
The pool reopened to Berkshire South members on October 4. However, the center still needs to replace the boiler in order to have a properly working heating system. “It was a difficult decision to replace it after 21 years of use,” Lucey said. “The cost estimate for the project went from $212,000 to $238,000 with the additional $26,000 expense. After so many years of trying to keep it going and ‘Band-Aiding’ its fixes, replacing it is the best next long-term solution for keeping the water warm.”
Lucey said that the new boiler would be installed in late October, which will mean that the swimming pool will be closed for at least two days during the installation process. In the meantime, the organization still needs to raise $75,000 in funds for not only the swimming pool renovation project but the boiler installation project. “We do not have a capital fund, so we will need to dip into our normal annual fund donations to complete this project if we can’t find other ways to complete this project,” Lucey said. “We have had some really generous donations from our membership, but we are still looking for more donations. We may have to lean into our annual fund, but it will take away from the rest of the work that we’re trying to do.”
In the meantime, Berkshire South will hold a Zumba pool party on Tuesday, October 10, at 11 a.m., to celebrate the grand reopening of the pool.
Berkshire South will also hold its Toasting Tasting event on Saturday, October 14, at 5 p.m., to benefit its financial assistance program for members.
For more information about the Berkshire South Regional Community Center, including its programs, visit its website.
