Elmira Officials Get the Green Light to Tear Down Brand Park Pool
ELMIRA, NY (WENY) -- Officials from the city of Elmira have an answer on whether they can tear down the historic Brand Park Memorial Pool or not. Mayor Dan Mandell said the city got permission from a state agency to go ahead and demolish it.
"[In] 2010, the city had a study done to find out if the pool could be restored at that time. When the study was completed, it came back [that] it would [cost] over a million dollars to restore the pool. In that report, it also stated that if the pool wasn't restored soon, it would be at a point of almost no return where the pool couldn't be brought back or restored. So, here we are in 2024, 14 years later, [and] we have to take the pool down," said Mayor Mandell.
Brand Park Pool was built in 1926 and was destroyed by a flood in 1946. The pool was rebuilt in 1949 and was dedicated to veterans of WWI and WWII. However, less than 30 years later, the flood of '72 was a pivot point for the pool and there was a steady decline in people going. Fast forward to 2005, which was the last year Brand Park Memorial Pool was open and it's sat vacant ever since.
Mayor Mandell said despite the pool's rich history, it's just too far gone.
"When I took office in 2016, there was discussion of maybe trying to fix the pool, and even then, the estimates came back to be like four million dollars. It was a rough estimate of repairing the pool. Then, you factor in the cost of chemicals, insurance, hiring lifeguards, it just wasn't feasible for the city financially to renovate [the] pool and open it back up," said Mayor Mandell.
Mayor Mandell said the plan is to tear down Brand Park Pool sometime in April or May once the weather warms up. He also said the city plans to put a splash pad there in the future. Mayor Mandell said in the future, they hope to memorialize the pool with something like a sculpture or a plaque.
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