Port pool open to another lease on life

THE future of the Portarlington swimming pool has again been placed back into the hands of the community after its doors officially shut in September.

Businesswoman Kylee Clasper, who signed a commercial lease agreement in March last year, closed Splash Swim School Australia on Sunday September 17 until further notice.

Then on Tuesday, owners Tom Montalto and daughter Rose Portella put a “notice of termination of lease” sign up at the pool.

“I was overseas when the pool was closed and it was unbeknown to me what was going on,” Ms Portella said.

“I don’t believe it was due to occupational health and safety issues and the lease has now been terminated by Dad.”

Ms Portella said while Mr Montalto did not want to take over the pool himself, he would endeavour to fix what needed to be fixed and they would be open to other lease opportunities.

“If we can get someone to take on the lease that would be great, otherwise it will close indefinitely,” she said.

Two weeks ago, Ms Clasper blamed the closure on a lack of communication with the owners in regards to OH&S issues.

However, Ms Portella said works were carried out at the pool in compliance with requests from the City of Greater Geelong and Worksafe, and had been continuing.

Portarlington Business Development Association (PBDA) President John Rae said the closure was very disappointing for the local community, but welcomed the chance for another operator to take it over.

Back in October 2015, the then owners gave notice to staff that the pool would permanently close on December 19, 2015.

This prompted a petition in November 2015 that contained more than 1,250 signatures calling on the City of Greater Geelong to work harder to secure the future of the pool.

The owner of the pool then offered the Portarlington Community Association a lease for $1 a year for five years in a bid to keep the asset open.

Then in December, a working committee group met to discuss how the Portarlington community could save its pool.

In March 2016, the Portarlington community celebrated after hearing news that Ms Clasper had saved its much-loved swimming pool, which reopened within weeks.