Debris can be seen on the surface of the main pool at Whites Road Park in Lansdale during a pool re-plastering project in April 2025. (Photo courtesy of Lansdale Parks and Recreation Department)
Contractors have been re-plastering pool per 2024 study
If you’ve been following the saga of Lansdale’s long-discussed pool renovations, the news is good.
“We are still on target to open by Memorial Day weekend,” said parks and recreation director Courtney Fox.
Lansdale’s two swimming pool complexes were the talk of the town in 2024, starting with a presentation that May from an outside consultant, who detailed for council the results of a study examining the short- and long-term equipment needs, aging infrastructure, and possible options for reconfiguring and revamping the borough’s complexes at Fourth Street and Whites Road parks.
That consultant identified price tags in the millions for fixes and upgrades to each of the two parks, including estimates for work at Whites Road around $1.2 million for mechanical repairs, another $1.8 million in reconfiguration and accessibility upgrades, with an additional $500,000 in upgrades to restrooms.
Updates were given throughout last summer, then during budget talks through the fall council referenced the pool upgrades as one of the projects meant to be tackled in 2025, likely using proceeds of a capital project bond that has since been put on hold due to staff turnover.
Work to be done in the first phase includes re-plastering the main pool, upgrading mechanical systems, adding a new flume slide and new dive stand, winterizing drain liens leading from the pool, and adding shade sails around the pool patio, per bid documents.
During the parks and recreation committee meeting on May 7, Fox gave an update, telling the parks and recreation committee that the main pool re-plastering was projected to finish within the next two weeks, with some of the components arriving later due to supply chain and logistical delays.
“The slides, which we already knew would not be in by Memorial Day, are back-ordered, as well as the shade sails. Initially they said mid-June, now they’re saying early June,” Fox said.
The main pool at Whites Road Park in Lansdale is seen during a pool re-plastering project in March 2025. (Photo courtesy of Lansdale Parks and Recreation Department)Councilman BJ Breish asked when the pool chairs and tables would be installed around the pool, and Fox said staff are waiting as long as possible to do so due to pollen and other weather exposure, but all borough-owned equipment should be in place by the end of the month.
As for the restroom building, the contractor has said they plan to start their work in mid-May, and “it probably will not take very long,” Fox said: contract documents allow a 75-day work period that would run to mid-July, but the contractor estimates the work will go faster.
“We’re pretty hopeful that will be completed in early to mid-June, is the goal,” she said.
“That’s huge: I’m almost more excited about that, then the pool,” said committee chair Rachael Bollens.
Parks and rec staff are also planning to paint the exterior of the pool building at Whites Road in time for opening day, and have replaced a sliding metal gate that been difficult for staff to close properly, Fox told the committee. Breish asked if plants and hedges around the pools had been re-planted or replaced, and Fox said a first phase of plants added last year have mostly re-emerged this spring, and more could be added once the renovation work is done.
“Once the dust has settled, we’ll reevaluate and figure out the next plan for landscaping,” she said.
Photo of existing conditions, including patches on the pool floor, at Lansdale’s Whites Road Pool. (Photo courtesy of Lansdale Parks and Recreation Department)Current plans are for both the Whites Road and Fourth Street pool complexes to open on Memorial Day weekend, Fox said, and be open only on weekends through mid-June, then switch to daily operations on or around the third week in June. The Fourth Street pool is set to close after a ‘Puppy plunge’ event for pets in mid-August, and Whites Road to close after the Labor Day holiday in the first weekend of September.
“We do keep Whites Road open longer, because we have the two gender-neutral bathrooms at Whites Road, and we don’t have that at Fourth Street yet. So just for accessibility purposes, we keep Whites Road open longer,” Fox said.
One change for both pools this year: Expect to see shortened hours for both July 4 and Labor Day, so staff can have time with their families on those nights, the parks director said. Staff are also finalizing plans for a Spirit week of themed event days, and a birthday party package at Whites Road, with possible additions of a Dive-in movie night at a pool, and night swims for teens or families depending on interest. Dates and times will be posted at the pools and on the Facebook pages for both pools respectively as plans are finalized.
Resident Dominic Visturia asked if staff had examined the pedestrian crosswalks and stripes near Fourth Street and the surrounding roadways since old lane lines may have faded with winter weather, and Fox said she and staff would investigate and re-paint those lines where needed. Resident Dominic Frascella asked if the pool would offer free passes available for use by members of the Lansdale Public Library, and Fox said they would, similar to those offered in prior years.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on May 21 and the parks and recreation committee next meets at 7:30 p.m. on June 4,both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.
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