The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

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November 19, 2008

Chestnut Run Swim Beach closed, permanently

By Joe Pinchot

PYMATUNING TOWNSHIP — Mercer County commissioners have decided to close Chestnut Run Swim Beach in Pymatuning Township, ending a nearly 30-year run of guarded swimming and sunbathing on the Shenango River Lake.

Commissioners informed the Army Corps of Engineers last month that declining attendance and tough economic times led to their decision. The Corps has leased the beach to the county since the federal government built it in 1978.

�It did not justify the needs,� said Commissioner Brian Beader. �Our numbers are down, and they continue to go down.�

Thomas R. Tulip, executive director of Mercer County Regional Council of Governments, which has managed the beach for the county, said daily attendance was at about 30 people.

�Most of that average is on the weekends,� Tulip said. �There�s nobody there during the week.�

Beader said the beach, which also had a concession stand and picnic and hiking areas, attracted Ohio residents, and commissioners could not justify subsidizing the beach to the tune of about $15,000 a year when nonresidents also were taking in the sun.

Commissioners considered that they are being asked for more money by different agencies in a tough budget year, and swimmers have other places they can go, such as Pymatuning State Park; Buhl Farm park, Hermitage; Sandy Lake; and the Lackawannock-Shenango West Middlesex Pool, which COG also runs, in West Middlesex, Beader said.

COG has offered passes, discounts and promotions, and has had sporadic agreements with municipalities to bus low- and moderate-income residents to the beach, but the efforts could not bring up the numbers.

�Sad day, for a lot of reasons,� Tulip said of the commissioners� decision.

But, the decision also has taken what has a been a financial burden off the backs of COG. Between 1993 and 2004, the beach lost $75,000, of which the county paid 75 percent � on top of paying $10,000 operating assessments from 1996 to 2000 � and COG paid the remaining 25 percent.

The beach has carried a $24,000 deficit since 2004, all absorbed by COG, Tulip said.

The unpredictability of the weather always has made the beach a risky affair from a business standpoint, he said.

User fees and state grants paid for upgrades over the years, but Tulip said the fact COG does not own the beach has made it more difficult to get state grants in recent years.

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