Village Pool Damage Estimated Over $1 Million

The Babylon Village Pool, located on a strip of land jetting out into the Great South Bay, took a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy in late October, sustaining over $1 million worth of damage, according to the village.

"The pool took a really bad hit," Babylon Village Trustee Anthony Davida said at Tuesday's village board meeting. "The entire south external wall needs to be completely replaced."

He added the village would not know how much potential damage was done to the pool's piping system until the wall is completely removed.

The pool's south-facing wall had three large holes in it following the aftermath of Sandy, most likely from the rising tidal surge and hard-hitting waves that compromised the sandy beach below it. Areas near those breaches partially collapsed, leaving much of the pool structure unstable.

"We've had insurance people and engineers come down and look at it and give us some estimates," Davida said. "Right now, the estimates, we can say, are well over one million dollars."

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In addition to the pool, the pump house, railings and cashier's booth, which was completely destroyed, will all need fixing or replacing by the village before the pool can be reopened.

"We're trying to streamline everything with the engineers... and taking the proper routes and try to find out how much exactly it will cost," Davida noted. "We do have some concerns about money, but our goal is to get it open for the 2013 season."

Mayor Ralph Scordino also had confidence the pool would, again, reopen like it did after Tropical Storm Irene caused some minor damage to it in 2011.

"We will make every effort to get it open," Scordino said on Tuesday. "We'll just rebuild."