York Suburban finds major pool defects; board affirms new-pool planning, seeks temporary swim arrangements

The district presented an engineering and cost assessment of the high school pool and asked the board for direction on whether to invest in repairs or proceed with the district’s previously approved plan to design a new pool.

Missus Kindick, the district’s chief financial and operations officer, summarized multiple inspections and leak-detection work that found cracks in tile and concrete extending to the pool shell and issues around the main drains. She said one outside expert estimated a feasibility study (four to five months) would cost about $13,000 and that two main repair pathways had very different price ranges.

Why it matters: the pool is the primary school-based space for swimming practices and competitions; prolonged closure affects the high school swim program and youth feeder programs and requires the district to arrange alternative practice and competition locations.

Options and cost estimates presented (administration figures): - Steel-liner option (install a steel liner to relinish the existing pool shell): estimated at about $1.5 million to $2.0 million for the liner itself; administration said that figure does not include engineering, permitting, or likely filtration-system replacement, which could add $100,000–$200,000 or more. Administrators said the liner option may have a 15–20 year guarantee from vendors. - Tile removal and crack repair option (remove tile, inject and repair concrete cracks, apply a coating rather than retiling): estimated at roughly $600,000–$900,000 for the visible repairs; additional costs for gutters, filtration and other work could add another $200,000–$400,000. - Administration summary: combining the high-range estimates for necessary related work produces a possible upper-end cost in the multimillion-dollar range (administration cited aggregate scenarios up to roughly $3.3 million when worst-case ancillary repairs are included). Administrators cautioned these estimates do not include architecture, permitting or additional issues that may be discovered during work.

District recommendation and board discussion: Administration recommended not making large, multi‑hundred‑thousand‑dollar investments in a 1950s-era pool that the board already directed planning and design resources toward for a new pool. Board discussion covered vendor guarantees, the full cost of a comprehensive renovation, and the timeline: administrators estimated that a full repair project would take about a year and would make the pool unavailable until roughly the 2026–27 season.

Board members cited an earlier board vote to proceed with planning and design of a new high-school pool; several members said that vote (7–1 in favor, taken at a prior meeting) means it is not prudent to spend large sums on repairs that may have limited remaining useful life. Board members asked administration to produce a line‑item, fully fleshed cost comparison (liner-plus-associated work versus new pool) and to secure written temporary-use agreements with potential partners so swimmers have a consistent practice and competition site for the coming seasons.

Interim arrangements: the board discussed using a previously approved $300,000 allocation for rental of external pool space and continuing negotiations with York College and other locally available pools to provide consistent short-term practice and competition space. Administrators said they will prioritize school-based programming first, then coordinate with club and feeder programs where feasible.

Votes and consent items tied to this session: the meeting approved a multi‑item consent agenda (items 9.1a–j) by unanimous voice vote with no recorded dissent; an administrator noted eight board members were present for the vote.

Ending: Administration will return with a detailed line-item workup that assumes a steel-liner option as the baseline repair plus any associated code, filtration and deck work; in the meantime, the administration will pursue written agreements for temporary pool use and report back to the board.