Jul. 26—Another of Portland’s community pools is closing soon for a major construction project, and the work may not begin right away.
For decades, the Kiwanis, Riverton and Reiche pools have offered Portlanders a place to learn to swim, exercise, play and cool off on hot summer days.
But come Aug. 16, only the Reiche pool in the West End will remain open. The Kiwanis pool in Libbytown, the city’s only outdoor community pool, is slated to close for a renovation project that has been in the works for nearly five years. But a city spokesperson confirmed Thursday that the city is approximately $5 million short on funding, and it’s unclear when the work will begin.
City staff members have recommended that the City Council’s finance committee take up the issue at its Aug. 13 meeting in order to get the project moving so the pool can reopen next summer, according to a memo shared by city spokesperson Jessica Grondin.
The Riverton pool has been shuttered since April 2023, when it was deemed unsafe because of structural issues. Renovations there have been on hold for more than a year.
Area swimmers said the closures have left them with limited options this summer.
Matt Baxter, coach of the Maine Gators, a year-round youth swim league formerly known as the Portland Porpoises, said the closures have made it hard to find adequate practice space for the team.
“Every year we have drownings that happen in this area, and largely that is due to people being unaware of the safety they need to have around the water. So expanding that access to pools is important,” Baxter said.
He said he has rented community pool space from the city for his team for years, about 20 or 30 hours per week. But this year he said he could only finagle about five hours a week at the Reiche pool, and he wasn’t able to reserve any time at the Kiwanis pool.
“I’ve been running competitive swimming in the city for 16 years and I’ve always had a good relationship with the city and been able to get rental time with them — until now,” Baxter said.
He understands that the updates to the pools are necessary, but it’s left him and his team in a tough spot. He has kids of his own who are on the team and said he’s seen first-hand how crucial it is for them to have access to pools where they can get comfortable in the water.
Baxter said there was a period at the start of the summer when he questioned if he’d be able to keep the team going, but he found openings at The Boys and Girls Club of Portland and Bowdoin College. Those were the only options, said Baxter, with just the four swim lanes at Reiche available come fall.
GROWING COSTS
The updates to the Kiwanis pool, which first opened in 1961, have been in the works since 2019.
“As the old pool has come to the end of its useful lifespan, the time has come to reenvision and rebuild this facility for the next generation of Portlanders,” Ethan Hipple, the director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities Management, wrote on the city’s website. Hipple was not available this week for an interview about the pool projects.
Over the last few years, the city held community meetings to get input from people who use the pool, applied for funding and got permits for the project approved. There was talk of installing a rock climbing wall, debate about whether or not to have a splash pad, and back and forth about the length of the lanes in the new lap pool, but after years of work, a final design was approved in January 2022.
The new design features two pools. One is a lap pool with six, 25-yard lanes and the other is leisure pool with a waterslide. It also includes a new splash pad, accessibility improvements and updates to the locker room areas, including a new concession stand and a family changing room.
According to the city’s website, the new facility will be up and running by next summer. However, the memo Grondin shared said that while the initial cost of the updates to the pool were expected to be about $6.5 million, those costs have grown.
After working with a consultant and issuing a request for proposals, the project is now expected to cost around $11.5 million. In 2021, the council designated $2.7 million in capital improvement funding and $3.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project, leaving the city about $5 million short.
In order to fill in the gaps, city staff members have recommended using additional money from both of those same funds or seeking private funding for the project.
Grondin said that when the pool closes on Aug. 16, staff will begin prep work for construction until a bid is accepted and the funding gap is closed.
RIVERTON POOL
The Riverton pool, previously the largest indoor pool in Portland, has been closed since April 2023 when it was declared structurally unsound. In the intervening 15 months, the pool has sat vacant and no construction has begun.
The City Council in March approved spending $2.3 million from the city’s capital improvement fund to repair that pool. The next month, Hipple announced in a statement on the city’s website that the pool is not expected to reopen until June 2025.
Grondin said that a contractor has not yet signed on for the project so it remains unclear when that construction will begin.
Hipple acknowledged that the news was “disappointing” and wrote that his department would do whatever possible to expedite the process.
“Since Riverton shut down it seems like everything is just falling apart,” said Baxter, the swim coach.
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