North Linthicum Pool to Close

Sad news concerning our local swimming pool. I hope they try lowering the cost of membership. I was put off by the stock ownership configuration and found it more than I could afford. Also I don't think they had a per day fee. Another thing that I hope they consider. In our local real estate market they should get a good amount if the property is sold. I hope that is not driving the decison either. Always a good neighbor in the community-

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: TU ARMAGOST

443-570-7278 (C)

COMMUNITY POOL FACES SHUTDOWN

NORTH LINTHICUM – In a community that has largely escaped the wave of home foreclosures, the economic downturn has claimed a different sort of victim: the community swimming pool.

More than 30 years ago, a few dozen residents of North Linthicum, the small corner of Linthicum that lies inside the beltway, joined forces and raised money to buy 2 acres of undeveloped land, where they built a swimming pool. At the time, there were no public pools in Anne Arundel County; if you wanted to swim, you had to belong to a swim club.

The North Linthicum Recreation Club opened its pool in the summer of 1977 and has opened every summer since then, providing a summer respite for residents and jobs for many of their children. Now, faced with declining membership and mounting debt, the North Linthicum pool is poised to go out of business.

“You could call it a ‘perfect storm,’”, said Tu Armagost, NLRC President. “Memberships declined to an all-time low, and at the same time much of our contractual business disappeared.

“In better times, we could have gone to a bank and borrowed money to get through the slump, do some aggressive marketing, and re-invent ourselves. But right now nobody’s lending, especially not to a seasonal operation like ours.”

When banks declined to help, the pool’s officers tried to find private financing, and sought help from county and state officials. Nothing worked. “Everybody’s in the same boat,” Armagost said. “Nobody has any money right now.”

POOL FACES SHUTDOWN -----2------

At its most recent meeting, the pool’s board of directors reluctantly agreed that all options had been exhausted, and voted to begin the process of shutting down the pool and liquidating its chief asset – the 2 acres of land where the pool is located, adjacent to Overlook Park.

“We are still holding out hope we can find a buyer who would continue to operate the pool,” Armagost said, “but realistically speaking, it’s much more likely that we’ll eventually see residential development on that property.

“It’s a real shame,” he said. “The pool has been a great asset to the community. When it’s gone, everyone loses.”

###