BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Brooklyn Bridge Park's pop-up pool will reopen next week for what's slated to be its final summer in the park, amid growing community concern for the loss of the pool without a permanent or alternative.
The temporary pool first opened in 2012 near Pier 2 as a free and public place during the summer till Labor Day. Swimmers of all ages and experience levels could use the pool for 45-minute sessions between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
But as the park prepares for the pool's reopening on Wednesday, June 29, it was long planned to be its last summer in the park. The pool is expected to shut down after Labor Day this year and the site will be turned into additional parkland, a spokeswoman for Brooklyn Bridge Park said.
The pool was created as part of a Memorandum of Understanding issued in August 2011 between the city, state Sen. Daniel Squadron and former Assemblywoman Joan Millman.
"The City agrees to provide a temporary pool in the Park for the duration of the summer season beginning in 2012 and continuing for the following four summers," the MOU states.
However as its fifth and final season approaches, Squadron is working to prevent the closure he knew was coming.
"The pop-up pool has become a beloved community resource. Working with the community, we must continue on a path toward a full-size permanent pool, and it's critical that the pop-up pool not be eliminated in the interim," Squadron said in a statement Thursday to DNAinfo New York.
In just a few short years, the pool and its affordable swim classes have become valuable resources for families during the summer, said DUMBO mom Suzanne Quint, who has been using the pool with her kids for three years.
"This pool is so beloved by the community," she said. "We would hate to see it go away."
Roughly 35 families have come forward to support a plan to keep the pop-up pool open, at least until a permanent pool can be planned, said Quint, who, along with other residents, is in the early stages of educating and mobilizing the community.
Quint hopes park officials will realize the importance of the pool to the community and reconsider their plans.
“We want to make sure Brooklyn Brooklyn Park knows how much we value the pool,” she said.
Brooklyn Bridge Park has allocated funding to construct parkland, which is currently in design phase, at the Pier 2 uplands, the current site of the pool. There is no funding for a permanent pool as of now.
Squadron, along with council members Stephen Levin and Brad Lander, met with Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, last December to discuss the "proposed elimination of the pop-up pool" at the park.
"As discussed in our meeting, we request the park conduct a feasibility study as the first step in pursuing a permanent pool," the three elected officials said in a letter dated Jan. 5.
During the study, the pop-up pool must remain open, they wrote.
