Cranford committee weighs options to save two town pools and approves $30,000 recreation plan study

Mayor Curran told the Township Committee on Feb. 18 that the town needs a short- and long-term plan to address a growing operating shortfall for Cranford’s municipal pools, and the committee approved a five-month, $30,000 contract to update the township’s open-space and recreation plan.

“ We do need about 700 new members, family members, to join the pools to sort of break even,” Mayor Curran said during the meeting, laying out the immediate financial challenge facing the swim pool utility. The committee placed a resolution on the consent agenda to hire a planner to update Cranford’s 2009 open-space and recreation element; the contract described in the meeting is for a five-month study that the mayor and other officials said will include public engagement and surveys and could support future grant applications.

The proposal drew two-plus hours of public comment focused on preserving both Centennial Avenue and Orange Avenue pools. Dozens of residents urged the committee to exhaust alternatives, from membership drives and targeted marketing to fundraising, flexible membership tiers, weekday-only passes, expanded events and creating citizen subcommittees to pursue grants and marketing. A sampling of comments recorded in the transcript:

- Don Smith, a resident, said he hopes the committee is focusing on “saving the pools” and urged more resident involvement. - Jean Meyer said closing Centennial would make the town vulnerable to single-day shutdowns (for example, a child-related pool closure) and raised parking concerns at Orange Avenue, saying, “If you close Centennial Avenue and you have Orange Avenue pool only open, and a person should have a bodily function misfunction, the pool will then be closed for the entire day.” - Zach McHugh and several other speakers urged improved marketing and suggested social-media outreach and earlier membership sales; a local GoFundMe mentioned during public comment had raised roughly $5,000 in the week after a public meeting. - Parents and caregivers described Centennial as more accessible for families with multiple young children and as functionally linked to indoor programs; one speaker said the Orange Avenue site’s layout can make supervision harder for parents with children spread across separate pools.

Committee members emphasized that the study is not a decision to close either pool. Mayor Curran said the 2009 plan was “approximately 3 pages long” and superficial; the update is intended to gather current public input and usage data. A committee speaker added, “This is not just about identifying vacant land… This is about how land is used, considering current demand,” and said the study can help the township apply for state recreation grants.

Several commissioners and members of the public recommended forming short-term citizen working groups to focus on fundraising, marketing and programming; the committee said it would pursue volunteer-led mini-workshops on those subjects and continue public outreach. Committee members also cautioned that a binding referendum to raise taxes for pools would be politically contentious and noted mixed public feedback on tax-based funding.

The resolution to engage the planner and update the open-space and recreation element (identifed in the agenda as resolution 2025-136) was included in the consent agenda and passed as part of the set of resolutions approved by roll call during the meeting. Officials said the study would cost $30,000, last about five months and include public outreach intended to inform longer-term decisions about parks, fields and recreation facilities.

The discussion that evening focused heavily on options to increase revenue (membership changes, event fees), reduce operating costs and solicit grants and donations. Several residents volunteered professional services for marketing and fundraising; the committee said it would follow up with citizen volunteers and consider additional public workshops.