
It’s all speculation at this point, but there is a possibility that if a YMCA is built in the township, it could have both an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool.
That was the word Sept. 19 from Township Manager Robert Vornlocker, who was speaking at the monthly Open Space Advisory Committee meeting.
Vornlocker said the township is “in negotiations” with both the Somerset County YMCA and the Board of Education, both of which would like property at the former Consolata Missionaries site on Route 27.
The township closed on the $14 million deal to buy the 65-acre Consolata site in May. The YMCA’s interest in building a facility on the property was announced in June.
“Their business model is a 45,000- to 48,000-square-foot building, with an indoor Olympic pool, and they’re talking about the potential for this site with an outdoor pool as well,” Vornlocker said of the YMCA.
“But that’s off in the future, that could be three years from now,” he added.
“We have negotiated nothing with the Y” at this point, Vornlocker said. “The Y came to us and said we are interested in building a Y there. Once they begin to work on their fundraising and their capital process, we will talk to them.”
Vornlocker said the township is meeting with school district officials on Sept. 27 to talk about the possibility of the district acquiring a building.
“They would be next-door neighbors,” Vornlocker said of the YMCA and the school district.