Diving Board Issue Continues To Be Splashy Issue

If the Dormont diving board issue were laps in an Olympic-sized pool, council would have finished 200 meters – with more laps to come.

At its agenda meeting Monday, Councilwoman Joan Hodson said procedures concerning the Friends of Dormont Pool's offer to buy and install a board at the Dormont pool weren't followed.

Still, council will consider the group's offer for a half-meter high diving board at its voting meeting on Monday.

But that will, most likely, trigger council to cross some t-s and dot some i-s that may already be done.

The matter dates back - at least - to September, when Tom Herman of the FDOP, councilman and FDOP member John Maggio and state Rep. Dan Deasy, met with the Allegheny County Health Department to seek approval for the diving board.

The pool at one time had three diving boards, but they’ve long since been removed or not replaced after breaking.

The health department, which oversees diving board issues in the county, granted Dormont a variance based on information that the group wanted to install a board no higher than one meter above water and that the water was at least nine feet deep in the area of the board.

A letter in support of the board was offered for the meeting by Gino Rizza, the borough manager.

Rizza did not attend meeting.

His letter was in support of the diving board on the borough’s behalf, he said Monday, but he was not seeking a variance on behalf of the borough. He was acting, he said, on Herman's request.

Apparently, most on council didn't know of the diving board plans until out earlier this year.

But councilman Maggio, at least, knew of the plan dating back to September. Maggio said he didn't want to get residents' hopes up if the board couldn't be obtained.

In any event, word of the group’s offer in January was initially met with enthusiasm, but safety questions arose.

President Kim Lusardi and council members Heather Schmidt, Hodson and Laurie Malka expressed concerns with pool depth, board features - including flexibility and length - and diving board and pool standards and calculations.

Council voted against the diving board several weeks ago until those issues were addressed.

Lusardi and the others said they weren’t opposed to a diving board: they just wanted safety issues addressed.

The pool is 10 feet deep, based on measurements by the borough and the pool company that Friends of Dormont Pool plans to have install the board, according to Maggio and Drew Lehman. And the offer now is also for a half-meter diving board, not a one-meter high board.

At Monday’s meeting, Hodson said she was troubled that borough procedures weren’t followed.

The diving board should have been discussed with by council first, then a variance sought, she said.

The matter then should have gone through the borough’s permitting procedure and zoning board, then to the health department, she said.

The borough solicitor said he will look into the issue and advise council.

Lehman, chairman of the recreation committee, which is offering the resolution for the diving board, said Monday he wanted the issue done right.