Politics & Government

Aquatics Club Makes Case for TOBAY Pool

Group spoke with town representatives at a recent meeting.

As next to Allen Park nears completion, a Farmingdale swim club is encouraging the Town of Oyster Bay to build a pool on the property.

"We've been hearing a lot of rumors lately so we are trying to get some questions answered," said Farmingdale Aquatics Head Coach Bill Manton at a meeting Monday night with residents and town officials.

Town Attorney Len Genova explained that over the next 60-90 days the town engineers will be determining cost estimates of the proposed uses of the space, which include a town pool, a community center and additional fields. That information will then be brought to the supervisor and the town board.

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Genova said that of the 22 acres adjacent to Allen Park, only 16 are viable for projects, since the extensive EPA cleanup required the installation of underground groundwater recharge basins.

"We are reluctant to put anything of an active nature over that area because if there ever is a problem and we have to get to it, we will have to completely disrupt that portion," he said.

Find out what's happening in Farmingdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Farmingdale Aquatics is a competitive swim program open to boys and girls ages 7-18 whose members compete on a local, regional and national level. The group runs year-round training programs at the Farmingdale High School pool.

At the meeting, parents and coaches from the club spoke about the physical benefits of swimming for all age groups in the community, how proper training in a pool prevents drowning and how an aquatic center could generate money and jobs for the town.

The swim club hopes to see a 32-lane, 25-yard pool built that can accommodate competitive meets.

TOBAY has never run a full indoor aquatic center and estimates that the center would cost $25-30 million to build. Unlike the other pools in the town, which are funded by park district taxes only billed to residents in the community where the pool is located, the cost of this center would be shared equally by all town taxpayers.

Another option discussed was the possibility of an inter-municipality agreement with the Farmingdale School District, in which the town would help fund a new pool there and in return it would become a quasi-town facility.

"There are no definite plans at this time, but we are interested and are in discussions with the town," said Farmingdale Superintendent John Lorentz, who added that there are no plans to close the high school pool right now.

The pool the club currently uses at is 40 years old and the club is unable to host meets there because lanes one and two are too shallow.

The town plans on holding a community meeting in the fall about the property, after all the options are priced and presented to the supervisor and town board.


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