The Glen Mary project now has a design and a funding commitment, though the new layout will be smaller and will not accommodate hockey or ice skating.
just now
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BAR HARBOR—Since 2022, the Glen Mary Pool has been officially closed. Now, the town-run area is one step closer to a rebuild and being able to host the town’s youngest swimmers again.
The Glen Mary Pool officially has a design and a budget and some extra funds to be rebuilt after the Town Council unanimously dedicated $1.1 million to the project, October 20.
The wading pool at Glen Mary Park (located on 7.5 acres off Glen Mary Road and Waldron Road) was last upgraded in 2009 and by 2022 was no longer waterproof thanks to multiple broken PVC and black pipes beneath it and is badly in need of repairs.
That need and the potential design and cost have been the subject of multiple Town Council and Parks and Recreation meetings for the last four years. The pool is in a neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown Bar Harbor and is often sited as a local gathering place, a local’s spot from a busy summer season, and a place where little ones get their first exposure to swimming outside.
During the four years of meetings, it was often mentioned that the pool often becomes a shared local heritage, a community space that’s also a statement about investing in everyday public spaces that are accessible to local families.
“Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘We should get rid of Glen Mary,’” Marie Yarborough asked during a December 2022 Parks and Recreation meeting. “They like cruise ships. They don’t like cruise ships. They like dogs. They don’t like dogs.”
But, Glen Mary and its wading pool is an in-town oasis, she’d said.
The pool is sited where there is a natural spring. It’s the same spring that gave Spring Street (which borders the park) its name. That spring was eventually fenced in sometime around 1983 and a wading pool was created. Some remember the pool being much deeper in the 1960s and 1970s. It also used to have a lifeguard. And a fire pit. People would roast marshmallows and hot dogs there.
The town had previously committed capital funds of up to $750,000 in May. The Village Improvement Association (VIA) committed the same amount. However, the nonprofit had already committed $100,000 to the initial designs.
The town funds, however, weren’t authorized until a final plan and budget were presented. Robert Krieg of LARK Studio updated the councilors a previous meeting.
Since then, the town worked with LARK Studio, Harold MacQuinn, Inc., G & G Electric, and Aquatic Development, Inc. to create a design for the pool’s replacement as well as for a splash-pad.
The cost was last estimated to be $1,400,000. It’s now increased to roughly $1,645,000 and then an additional $105,000 contingency.
On October 20, the council committed another $350,000. That money is coming from the town’s parking revenues, which were larger than the budget anticipated.
The town council committed a total match of $1,100,000.
Throughout its history the pool has had moments of repair and worries over its future, particularly in the 1980s. Leaks and issues at the site—which once had a paid attendant—date back at least to 1971.
When the 2022 closure was announced, residents expressed their concerns about both the lack of a place for young families to socialize as well as a safe and shallow place for so many kids to learn how to swim, sharing personal anecdotes of how they learned to swim there or how their children or grandchildren did as well. They also expressed displeasure that the wading pool had deteriorated so much that such a shut-down occurred.
“This is basically the same design that we presented last year, almost to the day,” Krieg told the councilors, Tuesday.
A sidewalk rings the pool area. It has a great lawn and an elliptical pool with handicap access and a splash pad.
The maximum depth is three feet. They hope there will be a shaded canopy. They will use the preexisting restrooms and pool equipment room.
Councilor Steven Boucher asked about hockey and winter skating use. The previous design allowed for hockey and prior to 2022, the pool had hosted ice skating and hockey. The previous pool was large enough to support those uses.
“With this particular one we couldn’t because it just didn’t work well enough,” Krieg said of the new design.
The new pool and splash pad area, he said on Wednesday, will be approximately 100 feet by 60 feet. The original pool was approximately 195 feet by 125 feet.
Hockey, Krieg said, would instead continue to be played at the ballfields.
Last year, the Witham Family Charitable Hotels funded via the VIA an ice skating rink on one of the Park Street ball fields, which was built by volunteers.
Witham Family Hotels Managing Director Jeremy Dougherty led volunteers as they assembled the 70-foot-by-90-foot rink in early January. Tim Rand, Todd Stanley, Tony Ricardo, and Patrick Murphy helped with the initial assembly, clearing the area and setting up the perimeter of the rink. The Bar Harbor Fire Department came in to assist filling the rink later in the afternoon.
Councilor Randell Sprague said he was excited to see it happening and encouraged parking on the Spring Street side.
The plan doesn’t accommodate parking, but the town can look into parking in the area and see what works and what doesn’t for the neighborhood, Town Manager James Smith said. Smith attended via Zoom.
“I think at my first council meeting, I brought up Glen Mary Wading Pool and how important it was having grown up just three blocks away and (I) spent a lot of my childhood there,” Sprague said. “We’re adding a little bit more than we already discussed putting forward, but I think it’s money well spent. It’s for the community, and I’d really love to see more for the community, more money spent for all the little kids in the neighborhood.”
The councilors also amended the motion prior to approving the fund to allow Smith to make changes for value engineering without changing the vision and hard work of the VIA and LARK Studio.
“It offers us a little bit of an opportunity to to make some adjustments to the layout uh, to ensure that we’re managing the project effectively to get to that vision and the project that the community wants,” Smith said.
Chair Maya Caines said, “I feel like this project has been a very long time coming. It’s exciting to see it make progress.”
Boucher asked about the town’s relationship with the Village Improvement Association and the area. There were no representatives of the nonprofit at this meeting, but there had been previously.
“I mentioned this in the past as far as accountability goes with the pool that we continue to work towards an MOU of some sort and an understanding while this project’s ongoing so that we do have parameters of ownership and understanding going into the future because in the past it’s kind of seemed a little willy-nilly as to whose responsibilities were where and so if we’re going to have this kind of investment then we should have the accountability,” he said.
Caines said they’d follow up to get that on a future Town Council agenda.
“I‘m excited about the pool. I’m excited to see, finally, that we have some clear direction and a great plan in place and hopefully that becomes contagious and carries around to Park Street, and we continue that work because I believe those outdoor spaces really are the heart of the community and a great gathering place and just something that’s available to everyone at all levels,” Boucher said during councilor comments at the end of the meeting.
Park Street is the area that hosts the town’s ball fields, Park Street Playground, as well as the MDI YMCA.
Charles Sidman said prior to the item during public comment that he was concerned with multiple orders that allocated money. “I don’t think you can disperse or expend these funds until they are allocated at the next town meeting.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To watch the meeting on YouTube
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