West Pottsgrove Moving to Sell Township Pool

The West Pottsgrove Township Commissioners are moving forward with plans to sell the former Colonial Pool on Von Steuben Drive. It has not been open to the public for the last three years.

The West Pottsgrove Township Pool may not be a pool much longer.

Or, if it remains a pool, it won't be owned by the township.

The Township Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 Wednesday night on a motion to get the former Colonial Pool appraised and put on the market.

If it is not sold six months after the appraisal is received, the motion calls for the township to fill in the pool and turn the property into a park.

Voting in favor of the motion were Commissioner Mark Green, who made the motion, and Chairman Steve Miller and Vice Chairman Thomas Palladino.

Commissioners Charles Valentine and Pete LaRosa, the pool's most steadfast champion, voted against the motion.

The vote comes in the wake of a motion made last month by Green to have the property turned into a park. He subsequently said he was approached by some residents who suggested the property be sold instead, so he brought the change to the commissioners as an amendment to his original motion.

Valentine said he was recently at a dinner celebrating the anniversary of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and a former official from Pottstown mentioned it was a shame West Pottsgrove's pool is closing, particularly given that Pottstown lost its pool years ago.

"Maybe there's some way we could do this regionally," said Valentine. Earlier in the year, he had suggested the township conduct a feasibility study on other ways to operate the pool for the public, but he could not muster the votes to move forward with that plan.

LaRosa, who secured the last company to agree to operate the pool -- and which shut it down mid-season in July, 2016 -- said he may have another company interested in buying the pool.

He said American Pool, the largest pool operator in the country, is part of the family of companies he works for and he recently met the CEO who said American Pool might be interested in the township pool.

"No, then a few months, or a year or two later, they leave and then we're right back where we

started," said Green. "If they want to buy it, fine, otherwise we put it up for sale."

Valentine warned that if the property is purchased by a non-profit entity, the township would get the one-time sale price, but would then lose any tax revenue that the property might have generated with a private owner.

Township Manager Craig Lloyd also pointed out that because it is public property, it must be put out to bid and cannot be sold as part of a private transaction.

Green said if the appraisal for the pool property comes back at less than $100,000, it might not even be worth selling and it would be better to just move ahead with the park plan.

Lloyd, who said the most recent inspection showed the pool to be in good shape, said he would arrange an appraisal and report back to the board as quickly as possible.

After the meeting, LaRosa told a reporter "the pool is not dead."

Operated since 1968 as a private, nonprofit community pool, the Colonial fell behind on its tax payments and finally fell victim to a combination of age, a slow economy and more homes with their own pools in their backyards.

The township paid $71,000 in back taxes and unpaid bills to take over the pool in 2010.

The township also put as least $250,000 into refurbishing the pool facility by the time it re-opened in August, 2011.

In January, Miller said he wanted a resolution for the pool, which has not been open to the public in three years, completed this year, one way or the other.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meetingP:


Town Pool Up for Sale