With the South Orange pool opening delayed to Saturday, June 14, Maplewood has agreed to welcome South Orange residents to use the Maplewood pool temporarily — with some conditions.
The Maplewood pool is set to open on Saturday, May 24.
Maplewood Township Administrator Patrick Wherry told Maplewood Township Committee members at their May 20 meeting that South Orange administrators had reached out with the request.
“They are currently scheduled to open for Father’s Day weekend. That leaves three weekends where they would otherwise be open and are unable to be open.” Wherry said the request amounted to 7 days or three weekends. The dates are: May 24, 25, 26, 31, and June 1, 7 and 8.
“They would follow our regular hours, which for those weekends is 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and — similar to how we had exchanged services previously when the Maplewood pool was delayed in opening and before that, when the South Orange pool was delayed in opening — they would send the staff needed to accommodate their members.” Wherry said that, “at this time, we anticipate it would be a manager, five lifeguards and three front desk staff.”
Mayor Nancy Adams expressed concerns about crowding — not necessarily within the pool complex — but with the limited number of parking spaces and suggested South Orange use its jitney to shuttle residents to and from the Maplewood pool. She also wanted to ensure that Maplewood residents received priority in terms of access to the pool and pool hours should there be any overcrowding.
TC member Deborah Engel asked about accommodating the South Orange Dolphins swim team.
“They haven’t asked about that specifically. Again, I think similar to these pool hours, if there’s a way we can accommodate them that doesn’t impact our residents — if we have time before the pool’s open when we’re practicing and they can get in after us — there might be an opportunity there,” said Wherry.
Deputy Mayor Malia Herman said she had crunched the numbers on pool usage.
“As of this morning, we have sold 932 memberships amounting to 3,500 individuals. This is before the expected pool pass rush that we are expecting as we get closer to pool opening. Granted the weather of this weekend could impact that a bit,” Herman said.
She continued: “Our pool has a maximum capacity of around half of the 3,500 individuals — and this is for over the course of a day. People come in, they come out. ” Herman said that in 2024, on Saturday of opening day, “it was 85 and sunny and our pool had 1,031 visits. So knowing that, we could accommodate about 400 or so South Orange residents.” Herman shared that on Sunday of opening weekend in 2024, “it was 82 and sunny, and we had 1,070 visits.”
“Based on this data, I think that we should be able to accommodate South Orange pool users easily on a chilly day, such as what is predicted this weekend, and, even on a warm 80ish day, we should be able to accommodate them,” said Herman. “Now, if we get a heat wave as defined as three or more consecutive days of 90 degrees or more, that would be a challenge because that’s where we really hit the upper limit. … I believe we had at one point to stop letting people in. So those are the days that we do really push the envelope, and we would need to reconsider allowing South Orange on those days.”
Township Committee member Vic DeLuca ultimately made a motion to give Wherry the ability to “make whatever changes he needs to make based on the conversation we had” to accommodate South Orange residents over the 7 days indicated.
The motion passed 5-0.
South Orange residents should visit southorange.org for updates.
