Brighton’s town pool will be renovated and remain open – and a new splashpad will be built alongside, officials announced Monday.
“We heard the residents of Brighton loud and clear that the Town Hall pool is an important community resource,” town Supervisor Bill Moehle said in a news release.
Moehle had previously said the pool would be removed after this summer as it was “past its useful life,” and that it "doesn’t make sense to try to do rehabilitative work to it.” A petition to save the pool drew more than 1,000 signatures, and a cadre of speakers to the Town Board, advocating for a change in position.
The turnabout came thanks to $1.2 million in state assistance secured by Democratic Assemblymember Sarah Clark and Sen. Jeremy Cooney, both of Rochester.
"We don't know exactly what it's going to cost," Moehle said in a later interview, referring to the pool and other investments. "But we do think that that that should be sufficient to cover all, or substantially all of those expenses."
A good portion of the state money already was earmarked to help with the splashpad and replacing the Town Hall playground with more accessible features.
All those remain on track. But Moehle has said previously that everything might be closed regardless during 2025 because of construction happening on Town Hall renovations.
“The idea is to now build the splash park near the pool, but not replace the pool, as well as (install) the accessible playground,” Clark said in an interview. “So really creating this, like, multifaceted recreation area at the town campus, which ... people really see that as, like, the heart of Brighton."
The campus also includes the town library.
"This really would create lots of opportunities for different people who want different things,” she said. “But it was clear people want a pool, and I think it's great that the supervisor recognized that.”
Brighton has one of the last remaining municipally owned pools in Monroe County. Three are in the city, and the other one is in Perinton. A statewide program called NY Swims has money available to build out municipal pools in high-needs areas. Clark said she initially explored whether Brighton could tap into those funds.
"But then, when I had a conversation with Bill (Moehle), he was like, 'But we can't wait. We need to fix this. I want to fix this now. I want to make sure people will continue to have access. It's what people want,'" Clark recalled.
The two lawmakers separately earmarked capital funding to support the pool and the related recreation projects.
Clark is a swimmer, former lifeguard, and as a mom to three teenage swimmers. Having places to learn to swim is a safety issue, particularly here, with the lake and a city with a river that runs through it.
“It's a skill that I just can't emphasize enough as being so important,” she said.
Those who advocated to save the pool were both celebratory and cautious about the reversal.
"I think it's going to be a great place for our community, and it's what we wanted," said Brighton resident Lauren Mesi. But saving the pool is just the start. There are a lot of improvements — particularly to programming — that residents advocated for in the process. "That's why we're like, okay, we're not done yet. Because there's still a lot up in the air."
On that front, Moehle said that, with the added investment, Brighton would look to get better use out of the facility.
“Hiring lifeguards is a real challenge," he said, the same for hiring people qualified to teach swimming lessons. "Those are things we are going to be looking at, trying to figure out what we can do because we do want to make sure that the pool is used as much as possible.”
Those uses, be it classes or birthday parties, translate to revenue to offset what has been a drain on town finances. But Moehle also echoed Clark: "We're certainly cognizant of how important it is that children learn to swim. So all of those things are programmatic things that we'll be looking at — once we're in a position to use the refurbished pool."
