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Northeast Pool Expected To Reopen By April

The Gainesville City Commission approved a $75,000 budget to fix the Dwight H. Hunter Pool, also known as the Northeast Pool, on Thursday.

The pool was closed Jan. 9 due to a tear in the liner.

Not knowing what caused the tear was a huge setback, said Jeff Moffitt, city recreation supervisor.

The city spent $500,000 to renovate the pool in 2008.  It has been plagued with problems ever since.

Moffit said the job to repair the current leak and install a new liner in a pool the size of Northeast Pool could cost up to $180,000. The city and Natare, the company that installed the current liner, decided to split the cost, bringing the cost for the city down.

“There’s nothing we did wrong and nothing the company did wrong to cause it to fail,” Moffitt said. “So we thought it was fair to split the cost.”

The process to renovate the pool began Monday. It will take about a week to remove the old liner, Moffitt said.

After that, Natare will begin to install the new liner. It will take a week to refill the pool and make sure all of the chemicals are balance after the new liner is installed.

New materials are expected to cost $55,000 and an extra $20,000 is reserved in the budget for other costs.

Moffitt said the project should come in under budget.

The reopening is scheduled for April 1. If everything goes smoothly, the pool could reopen a week earlier.

Claire is a reporter for WUFT News and can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.