August 26, 2025 By Carol Britton Meyer
There’s good news for adults and children who are looking forward to swimming in the long-awaited South Shore Country Club pool, with the timeframe to be announced at a later date.
A mutual resolution has been reached between the town and nearby property owners who appealed the permits granted for the new South Shore Country Club pool in 2022.
“The appeal has been dismissed, and the case is no longer pending in land court,” Town Administrator Tom Mayo said in a recent press release. No further details were provided.
The next step is to evaluate the bid responses for the project that were recently received and then to contract with the company that offers “the best bid,” Select Board Chair William Ramsey told the Hingham Anchor.
While the timeframe for the new pool is as yet undetermined, the goal is to have the pool ready “as soon as possible,” he said. “We’re all hopeful that it will be open by next season.”
Once the bids with the latest cost estimates are reviewed, it will be known whether they are within the not to exceed $8 million Town Meeting 2022 appropriation.
“If not, we will have to reassess and consider a value-engineered project, staying within the scope,” Town Administrator Tom Mayo said in June during a project update.
Plan includes 25-yard lap pool
The plan includes a handicapped-accessible six-lane, 25-yard lap pool, a zero-depth entry pool, a bathhouse, equipment storage building, and a splash pad.
Although the pool design would accommodate an all-season “bubble” covering, any proposal beyond a summer pool would require future Town Meeting approval on the budget side.
Last April, a conditional settlement was reached, allowing time for the town to seek some modifications to the permits.
Two of the three modifications were approved on March 24 related to fencing and landscaping. At that time, the planning board waived site plan review to permit an acoustic site wall around the pool.
The third modification relates to the town providing additional parking at SSCC. “Increasing the capacity by 37 spots – which have already been permitted – is part of the settlement,” Ramsey said. “The parking spaces will be located to the right of the main parking lot toward the maintenance building.”
Looking back
In the fall of 2022, some property owners living near SSCC appealed in Massachusetts Land Court the planning board’s decision granting the Town of Hingham a Special Permit A-3 and site plan approval to construct a new pool facility, which has delayed the start and completion of the project.
The appeal followed an affirmative vote at the April 2022 Town Meeting appropriating an amount not to exceed $8 million for the town-owned pool facility.
Because the Community Preservation Committee’s $550,000 pool funding recommendation passed under Article 17, the figure named in the related warrant article decreased by that amount.
This agenda item required a two-thirds majority vote, which was achieved — 317 to 95, or 77 percent of the citizens who participated in the vote. In order for the project to move forward, an affirmative vote was also required at the May 14, 2022, town election, which was the final outcome.
The Hingham Anchor also asked Mayo to provide information about the cost of the pool litigation to the town and is awaiting a response.