RED BANK: RIVERFRONT POOL CONDEMNED
The pool and dock at Riverview Towers are off-limits after the pool tore loose on Tuesday, officials said. (Photo by Google Satellite. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials have condemned the swimming pool at a residential high-rise on the Navesink River after it was displaced Tuesday.
The Riverside Towers pool, built over the river, rose several feet, apparently on incoming tide, upheaving the surrounding deck, officials said.
Slabs of concrete surrounding the pool were lifted in the incident. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Borough Administrator Ziad Shehady said it’s not yet clear whether the pool was being drained or had a leak. The circumstances of the incident are under investigation, he said.
What is clear is that an “imbalance in hydrostatic pressure” between the pool and river caused the pool to lift “well above the level of the surrounding deck,” displacing the surrounding concrete, Shehady said.
The 150-unit building, at 28 Riverside Avenue, also has a dock extending from the pool deck. Because the pool and deck have been cordoned off as unsafe, the dock is temporarily inaccessible from land.
Micheal Collins, secretary to the building owners’ board of trustees, told redbankgreen via email that “it would be inappropriate for us or any party to speculate on the cause of the accident at this time.”
He said the marina would remain closed for the 2018 season, and that users were being issued refunds. The board, he said, “will be consulting with our shareholders in an effort to fully restore the pool and marina for the 2019 season.”
Among the users of the dock is Navesink River Rowing, located next door, on Maple Cove, which keeps its launch boat at the dock.
NRR board president Kay Vilardi said the organization has reached out to the nearby Monmouth Boat Club for assistance, and board member who lives on the river has also offered the use of her dock.
The building is having a tough year. In January, pipes in the underground parking garage froze and burst, requiring around-the-clock fire department monitoring because of the incident’s impact on the building’s emergency sprinkler system.
A resident of the building who asked not to be named called the latest incident “really sad, especially with the summer swimming/boating season upon us,” but said the 50-year-old building is in the process of getting some upgrades and remains “a great place to live.”
