South Boulder residents across ages filled much of the city council chambers Thursday night, Feb. 5, to call for a full replacement of their failing rec center, including a pool and double-court gym.
The South Boulder Rec Center needs a $30 million replacement, as the city reports it is nearing the “end of its life.” So far the city has no funding for a replacement, but repairs in 2025 bought officials a few more years to find it. Ali Rhodes, director of Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Department, has made it clear that the city is committed to replacing the rec center, but will not guarantee specific amenities, like a pool, before a public feedback period.
“We are very, very aware: Our community loves to swim,” Rhodes told Boulder Reporting Lab. “The Erie Rec Center has two lap lanes, North has eight, East has eight, South has six; and the community still says it’s not enough.”
Rhodes said she is not interested in reducing the overall amount of pool space in Boulder, but said that where those lanes end up should be part of an “out-loud conversation” with the whole community.
That uncertainty has driven much of the recent engagement from the South Boulder community.
Many of the spectators at city council were kids, some carrying signs that read things like “Do not take SBRC’s pool.” Nine-year-old Wes Bennett testified to the importance of the rec center’s pool and gym.
“Please keep the pool and gym at South Boulder,” he said. “Kids deserve the same opportunities as kids in other parts of the city. I can’t drive to East [Rec Center] on my own, but I can walk to South and play.”
Most of the city councilmembers responded, several specifically thanking the young people for being there. Councilmembers Matt Benjamin and Tara Winer called out that they were parents and grandparents of Bear Creek Elementary School, where many of the children who were present go to school.
Councilmember Mark Wallach emphasized a need to be open to compromise about the design of a new facility.
“This job entails compromise all the time, and if you ask me to sign a petition that does not permit us to exercise reasonable judgment and possibly compromise, I can’t do that,” he said, referring to a petition with 3,000 signatures that South Boulder residents are circulating calling for city council to commit to including a lap pool, a double-court gym and exercise equipment in the South Boulder replacement rec center.
Councilmember Nicole Speer encouraged South Boulder residents to speak to their neighbors elsewhere in the city about the importance of supporting ballot measures that expand funding availability.
“We wanted to do this last year on the ballot measure,” Speer said, referring to several ballot measures that council opted not to advance last year after they polled poorly.
“Most people in the city have no interest in it at all. So please help us spread the word about the need for more undedicated funding, and the need for us to be willing to invest in the infrastructure that we all love in our city.”
Thank you so much for covering this meeting about a topic that Boulder residents care about so deeply.
Regarding Councilmember Speer’s suggestion that voters support more funding through ballot measures, I would caution that voters are often justifiably cynical about how governments spend money. Right now, the City is prioritizing a luxury administrative office park whose funding was ballooned by $100 million less than a year ago using non-voter approved “emergency” measures. That gives voters ample reason to be cynical. Which is tragic, because we do actually need to fund the government to have the amenities we want.
The only solution, in my view, is for City leadership to align with resident needs. Residents may need to create that alignment during elections if it cannot be secured during the terms of councilmembers.
For anyone interested in additional coverage of the meeting, I have written up my own recap of the meeting on my blog: https://shearerp.substack.com/p/on-the-city-of-boulders-plan-to-let
Agreed, thanks Paul!
The city saves approximately 15 million per year on library costs as the new district now covers those costs with its new property tax. Two and one-half years of those savings would easily pay for a new rec center. Instead – that 15 million per year in the city budget apparently melted into other expenses.
Who made Ali the final say on if or where we have pools? And based on what factual information or reports is SBRC considered condemned? The answers are no one and none. Ali is bulldozing her personal vision for an EBRC pool expansion and closing the SBRC pool. No one asked for this, Ali, and you should listen to your constituents. CC, it’s far past time to point out to Ali and PnR that the people have spoken, keep a pool in SBRC.
Erie has 35k people. Boulder has 105k. I’d like Ali to find out how many square feet of pool that Erie has per capita vs Boulder… if we’re going to use straw men let’s see some facts. And I’d STILL love to see that report that specifies where the SBRC building is failing structurally, Ali. Thanks.
Swimmingly,
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There are zero USA swimming club teams in Erie, CO. We have 4 here in Boulder, with over 400 total youth swimmers, not to mention a robust masters program, summer league teams, and 2 high schools with teams. Let’s not compare apples to oranges.
There are zero USA swimming club teams in Erie, CO. We have 4 here in Boulder, with over 400 total youth swimmers, not to mention a robust masters program, summer league teams, and 2 high schools with teams. Let’s please not compare apples to oranges!
Please email Yvonneb@ gmail.com if you would love to get on the reimagine South Boulder distribution list for occasion emails and ways to get involved.
Please attend/speak at the next city council meeting
Thursday, February 19, 2026
TIME
5:30 PM
LOCATION
1777 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80302
We have over 3,000 signatures on our petition to city council asking them to commit to keeping the core amenities at South. We are not asking for “gold plated” services.
https://c.org/RNYWtydRFZ
Please sign and continue to tell everyone in Boulder that we do not want to lose a pool in our community .
It’s amazing to me that almost every town in Germany has an indoor and outdoor 50 meter pool and Boulder cannot build one.