AMHERST – Climbing and sliding on a play structure, sprinting over wood chips and running through grass, children were in a constant state of motion while visiting Groff Park Thursday afternoon.
But as their mothers sat beneath the shade of a tree, their children could not use one of their favorite features at the Mill Lane park: the wading pool, which is closed due to “facility issues,” according to a sign attached to its gated fence.
“My kids love this,” wading pool, said Gretchen Peltier, of Lincoln Avenue, who said she often takes her children, ages 2, 5 and 8, to the South Amherst site. “It’s great because if you have younger kids, they can walk around (in the pool), and you don’t have to worry about them as much.”
Groff Park is like a second backyard for Caroline Daman’s four children, all under the age of 6, including a newborn.
Daman said said not knowing specifics about the pool’s closing can be frustrating, especially when children are hoping to splash in it.
“With kids, it’s hard to manage the expectations,” said Daman, who lives on East Hadley Road.
With the Groff Park pool closed, the only place in town for young children to go wading is at the Mill River Recreation Area. As recently as four years ago, there were three wading pools open in Amherst.
Peter Hechenbleikner, interim town manager, said this week that the town plans to get the Groff Park wading pool open as soon as practical.
“If we can get it operating this summer we will,” Hechenbleikner said.
The temporary closing comes as the wading pool, built in the 1950s, is in its final year of serving the community.
In May, Town Meeting approved spending $550,000 in Community Preservation Act money to construct a spray park and remove the aging wading pool, work that is supposed to be complete in time for summer 2017.
But Hechenbleikner said whether the closing of the wading pool is temporary or permanent will depend on the costs of repairs.
“We will not pour a ton of money into it when we’re building a spray park there,” Hechenbleikner said.
How extensive the repairs are is uncertain.
“The physical surface has cracked and crumbled in so many places that it is having difficulty keeping water in it,” said Alan Snow, the Department of Public Works division director for trees and grounds.
Snow, who will oversee the repairs, said a report from the town’s inspections department will guide what is done.
“Our goal right now is for this week and next week to fix the issues identified in the inspection,” Snow said.
Linda Chalfant, director of the town’s Leisure Services and Supplemental Education department, said she expects the Groff Park wading pool to open. “We’re ready to go with a lifeguard as soon as we get the OK,” Chalfant said.
In the meantime, the posted sign is directing people to the Mill River Recreation Area in North Amherst.
“The wading pool at Mill River is open and welcome to everyone to come there,” Chalfant said.
Chalfant said some parents with children 6 and younger may also feel comfortable having them use the shallow end of the full-size War Memorial Pool off Triangle Street in the center of town.
Amherst last had three functioning wading pools during the summer of 2012. But in 2013, the wading pool at Community Field, next to War Memorial Pool, was closed due to an extensive leak that proved too costly to repair. That wading pool never reopened and was demolished in early 2015.
Both 1950s-era wading pools had been renovated in the 1990s to bring them into compliance with the health code, adding systems that recirculated water and automatically filtered and chlorinated the water.
Peltier said she was confused by a lack of information from LSSE about whether the Groff Park wading pool was actually closed, why it was closed and how long it would be closed. Online, the LSSE mentions the Groff Park wading pool’s closing, but it is listed under a larger heading declaring, “Wading Pools Open June 25!” It also still lists a closing date of Aug. 21 for the pool.
Even with the Groff Park “wader” closed, Daman said she is encouraged that the town is dedicating money for the splash pad and appreciates having the wading pool at Mill River, observing that both it and the Groff Park pool, when open, are free to use.
At the Mill River wading pool Thursday, some mothers dangled their feet in the 2-foot-deep water while their children played. Amherst resident Jennifer Catt watched her sons, 4-year-old Wyatt and 7-year- old Connor, swim around in matching swim shirts. She said they prefer the Mill River wading pool to the one at Groff Park.
“As my kids got older, we started coming up here more, because it’s less shallow,” Catt said. “But they’re pretty excited about the prospect of a splash pad there.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
Jack Evans can be reached at jackevan@indiana.edu.
