This Columbus recreation facility will start closing for repairs next week

The Columbus Aquatic Center will close one of its two pools next week, then the other — and for a while the whole facility — as it tries to fix persistent leaks.

Becky Glisson, the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department’s deputy director, explained the procedure in a letter to CAC users.

On Aug. 6, the small pool will be closed for repairs.

“It seems as though under the pool itself, there are several leaks,” Glisson said. “We will not know the extent of this damage until the technicians come in and dig up that portion of the pool to find the leaks and ascertain exactly how many leaks there are. We will not know a time frame on this until they get in there but we are expecting approximately 11-15 days. During this time, the big pool will remain open.”

But on an undetermined date, the big pool also will be closed for repairs. And so will the facility.

“Both pools will be closed at this time,” Glisson said. “Towards the ends of all repairs to the pools, the deck will have to be repaired and resurfaced. Again, we are unsure as to the total time the facility will be closed. We have been told anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks. We will also use this time to give the entire facility a complete cleaning process and repair any small items that need it.”

As a result, the Columbus Consolidated Government will make the following accommodations:

• The Double Churches Park pool will not close as it had been scheduled to Aug. 5. It will remain open for the duration of the CAC repairs. Double Churches will adopt the CAC hours during this time. Also on Aug. 5, the Saturday operating hours will return to the normal 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• No daily admission to the Double Churches pool will be charged.
• CAC memberships will be frozen for the duration of the repairs and will be extended for that amount of time when the facility reopens.
• The swim teams will be in the Double Churches pool from 3:30 on each weekday, so there won’t be any lap lanes available after that time on those days for the general public, but the leisure pool still will be available for use.
• The CAC staff will work at the Double Churches pool during this interim period. They will bring the towels and locks for members to use, and there are lockers available at Double Churches.

Leaks at the Psalmond Road and Shirley Winston pools meant those facilities haven’t been available during the city’s outdoor swimming season that runs through Aug. 5. The city’s two other outdoor public pools are Double Churches Park and Rigdon Park. The Rigdon pool will close for the rest of the year when the season ends Aug. 5. The Double Churches pool will close for the rest of the year after the CAC reopens.

The contract Columbus Council approved to repair the CAC is worth $36,577. The estimated cost to fix the Psalmond Road and Shirley Winston pools is $500,000, but that work hasn’t been scheduled.

“We’ve made no repairs there,” Columbus Parks and Rec director Holli Browder told the Ledger-Enquirer in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re going to re-evaluate at the end of the summer.”

The repairs to the Psalmond Road and Shirley Winston pools were postponed, Browder explained, because the vendor wasn’t sure the work could be done in time for the opening of the city’s outdoor pool season.

This story was originally published July 31, 2018 at 11:51 AM.