Residents urge Beaver Falls to restart Tigerland pool talks at packed meeting

BEAVER FALLS — Throngs of residents packed Beaver Falls’ municipal building Tuesday night, imploring city council to reopen wave pool talks with Tigerland Inc.

Beaver Falls in July publicly ended negotiations with Tigerland, a nonprofit established by Tyrone Zeigler to restore the city’s long-shuttered wave pool.

The city said the land will “be purposed for the betterment of our youth and the broader Beaver Falls community,” after negotiations with Tigerland stalled earlier this year over what Zeigler said was a mutual non-disparagement clause.

City leadership said they started the process of transferring the pool to Tigerland in January, but the nonprofit "denied the offer." Zeigler said the city’s most recent proposal included a non-disparagement clause, which Tigerland agreed to providing the clause was mutual. The city rejected a mutual non-disparagement agreement, he said, at which point talks appeared to dissolve.

Zeigler has spent years fundraising and securing grants through Tigerland to pay for a feasibility study, business plan and materials. He said he’s crossed a number of bureaucratic hurdles only to be met with more. The property has sat vacant for more than two decades.

Tigerland’s attorney, Brian Farrington, told city leaders Tuesday the nonprofit is eager to re-enter property transfer negotiations and “get this project up and running so the community (can) enjoy what could once again be a centerpiece of Beaver Falls.”

He said the community and Tigerland, through fundraising efforts and grants, have already expended “significant capital” to get the project off the ground, including purchasing pumps, repairing plumbing and gutting areas of the building.

“There has been a lot of heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears poured into this project by many people,” he said.

Residents flocked to the meeting in support of Tigerland’s endeavor, exceeding the meeting room’s roughly 60-person capacity. Dozens were told to wait in the hallway or downstairs for their turn to speak during public comment. Those who spoke shared frustrations and fond memories of the pool.

“How can you sit there and be people we’re supposed to look up to and pay, and you guys don't give us something back in the form of taking care of us?” Beaver Falls resident David Hopton asked city council.

Beaver Falls Solicitor Shannon Steele told the crowd the city will respond to Tigerland’s request to reopen negotiations, but said her ability to publicly comment is limited for legal reasons.

More: Beaver Falls ‘not moving forward’ with Tigerland Wave Pool plans

“There have been negotiations,” Steele said. “It's not a situation where the city has said ‘no’ and walked away. Tigerland has certain wishlist items and the city has certain wishlist items. Whether or not Tigerland and the city can have a meeting of that mind, it may not happen. But that’s not just put on the city."

"The city has to protect all of you," Steele continued. "How would it look if they just favored one organization and said … ‘you can take all of this property, you can do all of this for free.’ … There were certain nuances to the agreement we were discussing. This does not mean that anybody is stonewalling, or that anybody doesn't want the community to flourish.”

Zeigler said he has not yet heard from the city on whether Beaver Falls will relaunch talks. If not, he said he’ll meet with Tigerland’s board and legal representation to consider the next steps.

“Kids could have been swimming by now,” he said. “I have all the tools now; we just finished our business plan, we have a feasibility study, we have a 501(c)(3). There’s no reason this project should not move forward. They said they were going to get back to our attorney. Hopefully, we can get back to the table and work something out because, at the end of the day, all this is doing is hurting the kids.”

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Residents urge Beaver Falls to restart Tigerland pool talks