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High hopes for pool’s future

BELLEFONTE — The potential for $300,000 in matching grant funding currently hangs in the balance for the 46-year-old Kepler Pool.

Recently, the Nittany Valley Joint Recreation Authority (NVJRA) submitted an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to help with rehabilitation of the community pool. The grant had an April 11 deadline, and NVJRA Chairman Mike Bonchack recently told The Express that he anticipates hearing back sometime in October on whether the grant money will be awarded for the pool. If awarded the grant, Bonchack said he is uncertain whether there will be enough time to start construction next summer, but the NVJRA will have three years to spend the grant money.

To match the $300,000 DCNR grant, the NVJRA has letters of financial commitment from the four municipalities served by the pool. Those commitments are as follows: $140,000 from Bellefonte Borough, $102,300 from Spring Township, $50,000 from Benner Township, and $37,500 from Walker Township. These commitments will be spread out over the length of the grant.

“The whole Authority would really like to thank the four-member municipalities for agreeing to come up with the $300,000 fund match,” Bonchack said. “Without that, we could not have applied for the grant, and without the grant, the pool’s future is very much in jeopardy.”

Over the past few years, the aging pool has had many maintenance issues, which has made the pool’s future beyond 2018 very uncertain. Bonchack said that one major incident was a chlorine failure last summer. A hazmat team arrived on the scene to take care of the incident, which fortunately did not cause any injuries or environmental issues.

To rehabilitate the pool, liner and filtration system replacements are needed, in addition to a stainless steel gutter, new piping and a concrete walkway to go around the pool.

Plans for the future of the pool do not stop at the necessary restoration and repair work.

“If we are awarded the grant, we probably are going to try to initiate some kind of a local fundraising effort to finance at least some kind of an attraction for little kids to make the place a little more family friendly, some kind of a splash pad or something like that,” Bonchack said.

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