Grottoes to demolish Grand Caverns Pool, start over

GROTTOES, Va. (WHSV) - Grand Caverns Pool in Grottoes will soon be no more. The Town Council voted to permanently close the pool in February and is now seeking bids for its demolition.

The pool has needed numerous renovations over the last few years and with the town having to make constant repairs its cost has become too great.

“We have had substantial leaks, we’ve lost over $400,000 during this process and we don’t acquire more money in revenue, we lose money each season,” said Grottoes Mayor Jo Plaster. “We’ve also had 9.4 million gallons of water leak from this pool so we’ve come to a place where we have to make a decision either to continue to put money into something that’s over 50 years old or figure out a way to build back better.”

The town of Grottoes has worked hard over the years to try to keep the pool up and running and has made some significant renovations and repairs to the pool since 2016 but its problems have persisted.

“We just continued to find more things going wrong and this latest repair within the expansion joint that we need to do, it’s more than $1,000. We’ve got another leak going on, there’s more that this pool needs so council made the decision to go ahead and completely start over,” said Plaster.

As the town looks for new ways to improve recreation it is planning to hold its first-ever Party in the Park on June 24th to raise money for its Parks and Rec Department. The town already has commitments from Pale Fire Brewing, Brothers Craft Brewing, and Bluestone Vineyards to be a part of the event and is looking for food vendors.

“The idea behind this is to bring money back to Parks and Recreation which is what we need. We do want a community center and we do want facilities for our citizens so it’s important to us but we just hit this block in the road of saving money is the same as making money and we have to take a step backward,” said Plaster.

Plaster said that the Town Council has discussed the possibility of building a new pool.

“We’ve talked about building a new pool as far as whether it would be indoor, outdoor, with a community center involved in that. Whether it’s going to be in the same place or not, we’re not sure of that either because we have a study period that needs to take place,” she said.

There has been a petition making the rounds in Grottoes in recent weeks asking the Town Council to reconsider its decision to demolish the pool. The council invites all citizens to attend its next meeting on April 10 where there will be a public comment period on the situation.

“We want to hear the community, we want to see and hear what they would like here for them. It’s very important to us,” said Plaster.