Plan to transfer East Reading Pool to Reading Parking Authority fails

Jul. 5—A bill that would have authorized the transfer of the former East Reading Pool site to the Reading Parking Authority has failed to pass City Council due to a tie vote.

Council members Christopher Daubert, Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz and Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz voted yes. Council members Wesley Butler, Donna Reed and Melissa Ventura voted no.

The death of council President Jeffrey S. Waltman Sr. in June left a vacant seat on council and no one to cast a tie-breaking vote.

Waltman had been a proponent of reopening the pool or reusing the site for recreational purposes.

Introduced at a meeting June 13, the bill would have conveyed the property at 513 S. 14 1/2 St. to the parking authority for use as a neighborhood parking lot under its Citywide Parking Relief, or CPR, program.

Nathan Matz, authority executive director, declined to comment on the matter.

"It was a hard decision," Goodman-Hinnershitz, who represents District 2 where the empty pool is located, said of the action last week.

Controversy has surrounded the pool property since the East Reading Swimming Association closed the membership-based swim club in 2015.

The pool property showed up in 2019 on the Berks County repository sale list, due to $64,720 in back taxes owed by the swimming association.

The city purchased the site in 2021.

The action was taken in part to block lone-bidder Cheap Home Finders Inc., based in St. Lucie, Fla., from buying the property for $501 and building more housing in an already overcrowded area.

Goodman-Hinnershitz said that when she first moved into the East Reading neighborhood more than 20 years ago the pool, opened in 1956, was a core of the community and well attended.

But as longtime loyal members moved out of the neighborhood or died, membership plummeted. The association found itself drowning in debt, and the pool fell into disrepair.

At the same time, she said, new families, many with multiple vehicles, moved into the area, and parking congestion became a problem.

The cost

While some of her neighbors are passionate about trying to save the pool, Goodman-Hinnershitz said, repairs could be cost-prohibitive and additional off-street parking would better serve the neighborhood.

City administrators considered repairing and reopening the pool or converting the site into a splash park with water-play features on a padded playground surface, but concluded parking relief was more important to residents of the area.

Former Public Works Director Ralph Johnson said it would cost over $1.6 million to make the pool operational again, and about $625,000 to make it a splash park.

Since then, it has been estimated about $500,000 would be needed just to rebuild the 218-foot retaining wall surrounding the property, and Goodman-Hinnershitz said a full restoration of the property could cost $5 to $8 million.

Some of her neighbors are passionate about preserving the pool, she said, but beyond the cost, the city needs to look at its capacity to not only restore the facility, but to continue operating it on a long-term basis, considering there is a shortage of parking for the area residents.

Goodman-Hinnershitz said the pool's location on a steep slope was never ideal. She favors working with the Recreation Commission to create a spray park on a different site in the neighborhood.

Still hope

Sheila Ehrsam, 74, of Reading and her daughter, Anna, 53, of Brooklyn, N.Y., are among the most vocal advocates of preserving the property as a pool or other open space.

Sheila's father, Reginald Speltz, helped organize the swimming association and acquire the land for the pool that her daughter called a vital center for health and wellness for people of all ages.

"We are so pleased to hear that the bill to transfer the East Reading Pool to the parking authority was not passed," Anna said in an email. "This is great news for all of East Reading residents. This decision gives us hope that our pool will be saved for future generations."

Ehrsam commended city leaders on the decision.

"We will actively work towards finding monies for the rehabilitation of our historic community center and pool," she said. "Reading should be a beacon of health and wealth, embracing its great intrinsic natural beauty and the wellness of its unique and diverse community."

Reed agreed the decision was a tough one. However, she said, another public pool is needed in the city.

"I think it is critical when you look at the only pool being Schlegel Park pool," Reed said. "There is no way that that's convenient or safe for kids to walk to."

Reed said her vote was made with consideration to what Waltman would have wanted.

The late council president was a strong supporter of reopening the pool.

"It's not ignoring what the neighbors want," Goodman-Hinnershitz said. "It's not trying to relive the past. It's being realistic with what the neighborhood needs."

As an aside, she noted the actor James Caan is seen swimming in the pool in a scene in the 1970 film "Rabbit Run," based on the novel of the same name by John Updike, a Shillington native.

"It does have a unique moment in history," she said. "I hope someday we can designate that. Maybe it can be the Rabbit Run Parking Lot."

A finished surface lot at the pool site would yield 63 parking spaces that could be rented for about $30 a month, Matz said at a council meeting this year.

The estimated cost for converting the parcel to a parking lot, he said, totals $750,000, including about $500,000 needed to rebuild the 218-foot retaining wall surrounding the property.

The bill could be reintroduced, City Clerk Linda Kelleher said.

In another matter, council has unanimously agreed to lease the lots at 924 to 932 Penn St. to the RPA for one year for use as a residential parking lot.

"I am excited that the city passed the lease for us to get some parking relief into the 900 block of Penn Street," Matz said. "We have a lot of business owners and residents in that area that have come to us asking us to provide parking."