North Canton YMCA closed indefinitely due to pool leak, water damage

NORTH CANTON – The North Canton YMCA Community Building has been closed for several days and it's unclear when it will reopen after "a considerable pool leak" caused extensive water damage in the basement.

"We're optimistic," Brandon Bussey, a spokesman for the YMCA of Central Stark County, said Tuesday afternoon. "We want to open it (Wednesday) if possible. But it depends on how the equipment reacts when we turn it back on."

The building, located at 200 S. Main St., may have to be reopened in phases as contractors perform repairs, he said. He did not anticipate that the pool would be open immediately for use when the building reopens.

Bussey said the branch is working with an inspector from the city, the electrical contractor Hilscher-Clarke and American Electric Power to check electrical equipment in the basement. They have to ensure the equipment can be safely turned on without further damage before they can reopen the building.

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The leak occurred sometime between when the building closed last Wednesday evening and 5 a.m. Thursday, causing the electrical transformers in the basement to short out. The transformers are crucial for powering the entire building, Bussey said. The water also damaged the equipment that pumps and recirculates water into the pool and treats the water with chlorine.

North Canton YMCA classes moved outside

Several classes such as those for yoga, boot camp and Zumba since Saturday moved outside. Swim classes have been moved to the pools of other YMCA branches.

Members are being directed to other YMCAs in Jackson Township, Louisville and Lake Township. The North Canton YMCA has between 12,000 and 14,000 members, and has between 900 and 1,300 visitors a day.

The staff of more than 120 have been temporarily reassigned to Dogwood Pool at 365 Seventh St. NE, which the North Canton YMCA operates for the city of North Canton, and other YMCA branches, said Bussey.

Operations at Dogwood Pool and North Canton YMCA Child Development Center at 315 N. Main St. are unaffected.

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Bussey said the early morning staff showed up before the North Canton YMCA was to open 5 a.m. Thursday and discovered that power in the building wasn't working. They realized that the pool was leaking a significant amount of water into the basement, damaging the equipment there. The YMCA branch never opened Thursday.

No one was in the building at the time of the leak, and no one was injured, said Bussey.

He said Tuesday that a PVC pipe that carried water from the pool failed, causing the leak. It's not clear yet why that happened.

'We're still in cleanup mode.'

Bussey said a contractor spent much of Friday pumping and draining water from the basement. The North Canton YMCA stayed closed throughout the weekend to allow the equipment to dry.

The contractors realized Monday that they were not yet ready to reopen the branch.

"We're still in cleanup mode, trying to get everything dry and able to start up," said Bussey. "We're hoping soon as long as our equipment works down there. ... The plan is to be able to get whatever parts of the branch opened as soon as possible."

Anyone calling the branch's main number Monday afternoon was getting a busy signal or a message saying the call couldn't go through. Bussey said because power to the building is shut off, its phones will not work nor will they forward calls.

The YMCA of Central Stark County has been updating its members with emails, posts on social media and its website and signs posted on doors.

Bussey said the YMCA of Central Stark County's insurer Great American Insurance in Cincinnati has sent a claims adjuster to evaluate the damage. There hasn't been a damage estimate yet.

Outdoor classes

On Monday evening, a pickup with the words Trident Restoration painted on its side was parked by a large piece of equipment in the North Canton YMCA's south parking lot. The equipment was connected to a huge tube that went into the building.

Bussey said that the contractor was seeking to remove as much moisture from the basement as possible.

Despite the loud noise coming from the equipment's motor, it didn't disrupt the Zumba class being held in the back parking lot. An instructor and five of her students danced to the loud music from the speakers she had set up, right by parked cars.

One of the students, Kathy Peters of Plain Township, said that though she had felt a tad hot after her Saturday Zumba session in the parking lot, she enjoyed having the class outside.

"It's a nice change," she said, adding the Zumba music droned out the sound of the motor. "I don't even hear that. I'm too busy dancing."

By the Community Building entrance on South Main Street, eight people had placed their yoga mats on the bricks for their 6 p.m. yoga class.

Instructor Corrine Zellers said that despite the noise from the traffic on Main Street, it was awesome having the class outside.

"It's a beautiful evening. Not too hot," she said. "You can do yoga anywhere."

One of the participants, Cathy Snarksi of North Canton said that once she got into a zone, she didn't even hear the cars.

She said the closure of the Community Building pool for a few days won't affect her family because they use the Dogwood outdoor pool during the summer.

Peters said as for the North Canton YMCA being closed, "You can go to any Y. It's not like you're stuck with nothing to do."

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP. 

This article originally appeared on The Repository: North Canton YMCA closed due to pool leak