Baldwin pool remains closed for 2nd year

Baldwin Borough’s municipal pool will be closed again for 2025.

Improvements to the half-century-old aquatic facility were planned for last year. But on two occasions in 2024, bids for the project came in at roughly double the amount budgeted, according to information provided by borough manager Robert Firek.

Construction was scheduled to start this spring following council’s January award of contracts totaling $2.117 million for interior and exterior work on the pool, including updates to the heater, pump, chlorinator, piping, liner and gutter system. Borough officials anticipate completion by the end of the year and the pool’s reopening for the 2026 season.

The borough’s 2025 capital improvement fund budget includes revenue from two state grants toward the pool renovation: $600,000 from the Commonwealth Financing Authority’s Local Share Account and $50,000 from the Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program. An additional $50,000 comes from the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority’s Gaming Economic Development Tourism Fund.

Listed in the 2024 capital improvement fund budget is $350,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money as part of the covid-related federal economic stimulus package.

Baldwin’s Olympic-sized swimming pool – located in Elm Leaf Park, behind the municipal building on Churchview Avenue in the northern part of the borough – was built in 1972, and minor repairs were undertaken as necessary over the ensuing years.

“Unfortunately, the concrete structure, the piping that feeds the water from the pool to the pump room and back along with the pumps themselves are all at the end of their useful life,” the Baldwin Borough website states.

As was the case in 2024, Brentwood has opened its municipal pool to Baldwin residents. The pool is next to the Brentwood Civic Center, 118 Park Drive. For more information, visit brentwoodpa.gov/brentwoodpool.