Swimmers and their fans may know that the pool at Edgewood Middle School has been closed since August – Parks and Recreation programs at the pool have been cancelled and swim team practices and meets have been moved to county pools at Magnolia and North Harford Middle Schools. When a Dagger reader asked what was going on, we asked Harford County Public Schools for the story.
According to Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications for HCPS, the Edgewood pool was closed for a filtration system replacement and while construction is complete, questions raised by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene must be resolved before the necessary permits can be issued. Kranefeld said that the earliest the pool would re-open is early to mid-February.
In the following Q & A, Ms. Kranefeld provides a more detailed explanation about the work that was done and the issues raised by the state health department:
Ms. Kranefeld: A capital project was initiated this summer to replace the filtration system at the Edgewood Middle School pool. A designer was utilized to create the plans for the new system and the contractor and an HCPS project manager took over the implementation process. The work that was completed requires a State of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene permit. We have submitted the documents that are required to obtain a permit and have responded to their inquiries and document review comments. We are now [waiting] for the State to approve our permit and/or to forward additional comments for our response as needed to obtain the permit. In the meantime, the pool cannot be used and the final inspection arrangements cannot be scheduled until the permits are approved.
Dagger: What were the state’s specific concerns?
Ms. Kranefeld: See attached DHMH Notice for the specific concerns [DHMH Notice posted below].
Dagger: Are these concerns substantive – will they require additional construction and/or costs?
Ms. Kranefeld: The concerns are typical types of submission and/or plan review comments that you would receive from a plan reviewer on a plan permit submission. Our design consultant is confident in his design and believes his design meets code. If the reviewer determines that the design professional did not design to code, it may require additional construction and/or costs. We will not know until after the Department of Health plan reviewer has completed his review.
Dagger: Is there an estimated timeline when the pool will be back in service?
Ms. Kranefeld: The Department of Health is allowed thirty (30) days to complete a plan review. The submitted request for information was resubmitted to their office on December 27, 2010. They are trying to help expedite things with the review, but it still take some time for them to perform their work. After the review is completed, if there are not additional comments and if they issue a construction permit then a field inspection must be scheduled at the site to inspect the work by both the Local and State Health Department. Everything needs to be inspected and approved at the site and then approval will be granted to use the pool facility. The earliest we can expect approval is sometime in early to mid-February. If they have additional comments or find concerns when they conduct their field inspection it could be longer.
Wow Dagger…what a spin you tried to put on a common construction delay.
The pool is closed until permits are approved.
Can you please point out the spin?
The problem is it has disrubted lots of people as the state takes their sweet old time!