The South Boulder Recreation Center will close for extended maintenance this summer, part of the city’s annual facility repair schedule and a larger attempt to keep the aging building operational.
The pool will close Sunday, July 13 and is expected to reopen Oct. 1. The full facility will close Monday, July 21 and reopen Tuesday, Sept. 2.
Originally, the city planned to wait until August to close the building for repairs, but “critical maintenance” forced the timeline up.
City officials said the closure will allow for infrastructure repairs that will “extend the life of the building.” That includes work on the pool fans, HVAC system and other core components, marking a shift from last fall, when Boulder Parks & Rec said such repairs were “not feasible.”
“You don’t put a new engine in a very old car,” a city spokesperson previously told Boulder Reporting Lab.
The South Boulder facility has been deteriorating for years, prompting concerns that service interruptions or a full shutdown could follow if key systems fail. Still, a full replacement isn’t currently on the table. A recent city assessment and advocacy from South Boulder residents led officials to reallocate funding for interim fixes.
City staff had proposed two possible ballot measures to help fund rec center repairs: a new property tax and an extension of an existing sales tax. While polling showed strong support for the sales tax extension, most residents opposed the property tax. As a result, most city councilmembers opted not to place it on the ballot. They are still considering asking voters to approve an extension of the city’s 0.30% Community, Culture, Resilience & Safety (CCRS) sales and use tax.
The property tax was part of a broader effort to address a $380 million backlog in capital maintenance and reduce the city’s reliance on sales taxes, which are more vulnerable to economic downturns and disproportionately impact lower-income residents.
During the closure, residents are encouraged to use other centers like East Boulder and North Boulder Rec, as well as the Boulder Reservoir and parks.
The city should be adding $25 million to the $66 million bond issue in order to finance a new South Boulder Recreation Center.
Then it would really get shot down! The taxpayers shouldn’t get hit with the consequences of the City’s lack of accounting for ongoing costs of M and O ( Maintenance and Operations) on it’s public service facilities. Planning for the full lifecycle economic analysis needs to be included in the original approval of these projects.