The school board and the city “have always expected to include a pool in the project,” Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling and Council President Tom Livingston said in a joint statement.
“We all agree a community of our size, particularly a waterfront community, must have a swimming pool,” the school board said.
Rilling and Livingston said a pool has been designed for both proposed locations of the new school.
Funding for the high school will be decided as the project progresses. Rilling and Livingston said this may have created the confusion around whether the pool would happen.
“We can assure the community that it will,” they said.
The state has committed to reimbursing 50 percent of the pool, “something our state delegation achieved specifically because of the importance of a pool to our community,” Rilling and Livingston said.
“The reimbursement for a pool is extremely rare, and something we fully intend to take advantage of,” they added.
Rilling and Livingston said they are “exploring multiple funding streams and are committed to including it in the project.”
