NORTH TONAWANDA — City officials and residents gathered Friday to officially kick off construction of a new multi-million-dollar aquatic center and say goodbye to an above-ground pool that has served Payne Park visitors for decades.
The new $9.9 million aquatic center, which will include a zero-entry pool, dedicated lap pool and lap lanes and an aquatic playground with a large tipping water bucket and interactive spray features, is expected to be completed by next spring.
The new Memorial Pool at Payne Park will replace the old Memorial Pool, which was opened in 1947 as a tribute to World War II veterans. In recent years, the above-ground structure ranked among the class of pools designed by Wesley Bintz, a Michigan engineer who was involved in more than 100 community pool projects in 20 states between the 1920s and 1960s.
Friday’s ground-breaking ceremony served as a bittersweet moment for Amy Ramsey, whose grandfather, former Lumber City recreation and parks director William “Pop” Ramsey, was considered a driving force in the development of the original Memorial Pool, which, in its heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s, welcomed as many as 1,900 swimmers per day.
Amy Ramsey served on the city committee charged with making the decision to move on from the aging pool to the new, state-of-the-art aquatic center. She described the decision as “tough” but necessary given the condition of the Bintz pool and its challenging maintenance needs.
“The conversation on whether or not to close Memorial Pool went on for years because there’s so much sentimentality there. When I talked about Pop bringing the community together, I wasn’t kidding. I mean, this was a focal point,” she said.
Ultimately, city officials and residents determined the aging Memorial Pool had become too difficult and too costly to maintain.
“We were going back and forth about the existing pool and a new facility and we had no money at the time. We got to a point in the conversation where we said we need to focus our sole energy on this new pool,” Mayor Austin Tylec said.
City leaders worked with state officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Assemblyman William Conrad, D-Tonawanda, to secure state grant funds for the aquatic center. Conrad’s office helped the city secure a $4 million state grant. Hochul’s office chipped in $1.1 million to close a gap in overall funding.
“We decided immediately that we wanted to be a part of its rebirth so that youngsters and families for generations to come could experience the vibrancy of this park — and at a time when hardworking people most need and deserve accessible, affordable opportunities for fun and enhanced wellness,” Conrad said.
Tylec described the aquatic center as the largest publicly funded project North Tonawanda has seen in decades and said it adds to ongoing efforts by his administration to improve what’s known as the “center city” area near Payne Park.
“Thanks to the financial support and funding from federal and state funding sources, we were able to bring this project from the drawing board to reality,” Tylec said.
The old Memorial Pool may live on, just not as an actual pool. Tylec said the city has received estimates suggesting tearing the pool down could cost at least $1 million. City officials are now considering a variety of reuse options. Tylec said the discussions involve representatives from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“The focus is the new energy and the new pool and then we can redirect our attention to the existing pool,” he said.