The future of Cortez’s outdoor swimming pool continues to draw concern from the pool’s users.
City officials say the pool will be open in 2027 but its long-term future is uncertain because it needs a $1.5 million renovation at a time when city revenues are expected to drop sharply.
That led one person to comment at the Oct. 27 city-council meeting that pool supporters are not asking for-state-of-the art facilities or $1.5 million renovation projects.
Parks and Recreation director Creighton Wright told KSJD in an email that the figure doesn’t come from anything extravagant.
“It’s purely what is necessary to keep it operational, functional, and easier to maintain (rather than expensive band-aid fixes),” he said in the email.
The needs include a resurfacing of the pool shell, replacement of tube slides that were removed in the last two years because they had failed, and a renovation of the big slide.
Other needs Wright listed include concrete deck repairs to address cracked and heaving concrete and repair of leaks under the concrete deck.
Still other items included in the estimate are parking-lot reconstruction, resurfacing of the locker-room floor, and shoring of the pool mechanical building, to address wall cracks.
Things that could be considered extravagant were not included in the $1.5 million project, Wright said. Those included signage and additional attractions that might draw a broader audience, such as a ninja course or wibit water park.
“We haven’t even priced these out yet,” Wright wrote.
The city council will have a public hearing on the 2027 budget on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall.
