Friends of Dormont Pool To Get Diving Board Calculations

A diving board for Dormont Pool isn’t dead in the water yet.

Friends of Dormont Pool will get in touch with a pool company to perform calculations for two possible diving board locations to address council's safety concerns, Sarann Fisher, a member of the group, told council’s finance and legal committee meeting Tuesday night.

The company, B&R Pools, has done work at the Keystone Oaks school gym.

The offer by Friends of Dormont Pool earlier this year to buy and install a diving board at no cost to the borough was initially met with excitement.

But questions arose over diving board length and flexibility as well as height above water, pool depth, pool shape and board location.

Patrick Flaherty, an FDOP member, told the committee Tuesday night that he was concerned with safety, too.

But based on his research, the chances of a diving board injury were less than getting struck by lightning, he said.

And citing a study from the journal “Pediatrics,” he said three-quarters of injuries occurred in private pools, and half involved drinking.

He encouraged council to work together.

“The board is not for council, the board is for the residents,” he said. "It bothers me out here when people are fighting back and forth."

Fisher said she’d like council to move on the issue soon, because pool companies will soon be getting busy. If council takes too long to decide to accept the board, it could be until next year before it can be installed.

The current plan is for a board that would be no more than a half-meter from the water's surface.