Village Pool Will Not Open on June 22

The Babylon Village Pool, located at the end of Fire Island Avenue South, will not be seeing cannonballs and splash fights next Saturday, as was expected, as work delays have forced the village to push back the opening day for the pool.

Located at the very end of the roadway in the Great South Bay atop a peninsula, the village pool was heavily damaged during Hurricane Sandy, with partial collapses to the pools and building damage throughout the property.

In total, the village said the pool and grounds took over $1 million worth in damages during the storm.

"We had hoped to open on June 22, but due to supply shortages to contractors, delays on materials... it will restrict us from opening," village trustee Tony Davida said during the village board's June 11 meeting. "We're working on the railing and ladies' room, can't open without those in place."

Davida said the village would now aim for July 6, a big holiday weekend with smaller crowds in Babylon Village as residents usually head out for the Independence Day celebrations.

"It's usually a quiet day and it'll keep demand down," Davida said.

The remaining work at the pool was focused on the new railings, Davida said, which need to be in place to keep children from falling into the pool due to new county restrictions.

"We are working very diligently on that," he said.

The pool staff will be working, however, starting on the original opening day of June 22 to help with the cleanup on the site, which is still a mess following a stormy winter and ongoing construction.

"The kids will be working and earning their summer time money," Davida said. "We had a tremendous amount of damage down there, but this is cosmetic stuff. It's not the end we're really worried about."