KENT — Kent’s selectmen want the town to focus on reopening Emery Park’s swimming pond as it weighs a $5.75 million plan to renovate the park.
The Board of Selectmen reviewed the master plan at its Oct. 20 meeting. Reopening the swimming area remains the priority, with broader park improvements planned in phases over the following years. The board did not provide a timeline for reopening the pond.
Prepared by Meriden-based Cardinal Engineering, the plan outlines upgrades to the park, including its 80-year-old, stream-fed swimming pond, which has been closed since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parks and Recreation Director Matt Frasher said planning for the pond’s rehabilitation revealed the need for broader infrastructure improvements and accessibility upgrades under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We started to cut the onion and we had to really take apart so many more layers deeper in,” he said. “It was like a domino effect.”
Frasher said reopening the swimming pond remains the commission’s top priority, although completing the broader park rehabilitation could take a decade or more.
“We are under the understanding that this could be a 10, 15 year project,” he said. “It’s not something that’s going to happen instantaneously.”
Cardinal’s estimates include approximately $4.2 million for general park improvements, $550,000 for pond dredging and utilities, and roughly $1 million to rehabilitate the swimming area — a combined cost of up to $5.75 million.
The general improvements include a Parks and Recreation Department office, bathing and changing facilities, a 50-person pavilion, landscaping and a new playground.
The town has $550,000 in capital funds allocated to various aspects of the project, covering approximately 10% of the estimated total, Frasher said.
Selectman Lynn Harrington expressed concern that the broader rehabilitation could distract from or impede efforts to reopen the swimming pond.
First Selectman Eric Epstein said his conversations with engineers supported addressing regulatory compliance throughout the park alongside the swimming-area work. But a project of this scale should involve public input, he said.
“My concern is we need to take this to the taxpayers,” Epstein said.
Frasher said his office and the commission intend to hold public forums in November and December to discuss the plans with residents.
Selectman Lynn Worthington asked whether the commission had considered replacing the pond with a swimming pool.
Frasher said “going the pond route is a significantly less expensive option, and one that we don’t have to fall under a significant amount of regulation.”
Maintaining it as a pond would also give the town more flexibility in its use, he said. The commission has discussed the possibility of winter skating when conditions allow.
Frasher said restoring accessible public swimming would provide residents with a place to cool off and opportunities to learn lifesaving swimming skills.
“The commission and I are beyond ecstatic to get behind it,” he said.
