For more than a century, Spruce Pool has been a fixture in Boulder’s Whittier neighborhood. It is one of the city’s few public lap pools and a gathering place for a close-knit community of regulars.
Now, its future is uncertain.
The city manager’s newly released budget proposal, totaling about $550 million, would use about $134,000 in one-time funding to keep Spruce open through the summer of 2027. City staff have not decided to close the pool, but they say no ongoing funding currently exists to operate it beyond next year.
“For many of us, Spruce Pool means summer in Boulder,” said Lynn Stein, who has been swimming there for 32 years. She and other regulars said closing the pool would mean losing not only a place to exercise but also a community built over decades.
“We understand that this can be very disappointing for community members,” said Scott Schuttenberg, deputy director of Boulder Parks and Recreation. He said the lack of continued funding “is not a reflection of the value of Spruce Pool.”
The uncertainty over Spruce comes amid broader strain on Boulder’s recreation system. The city is trying to close a $6.3 million gap in its 2027 general fund as operating costs rise and tax revenue remains flat. It also faces roughly $400 million in unfunded repairs and replacements for aging public buildings, including its rec centers.
Voters will decide in November whether to authorize up to $400 million in city debt, repaid through higher property taxes, for major capital projects. But the measure’s passage is far from assured. A recent poll found that it lacked majority support.
Even if voters approve the Recreation and Safety Bond, the money could not cover recurring expenses such as lifeguard wages, utilities and pool chemicals. Spruce is not among the projects the city has identified for bond funding, and the measure would provide no money to operate it. The bond “does not address operational or ongoing dollars,” Schuttenberg said.
The budget pressures extend beyond Spruce. The recommended 2027 budget, released Aug. 28, would reduce hours at Scott Carpenter Pool outside the peak summer season, lay off 13 city employees, eliminate 11 vacant positions and cut other services. It would mark the third consecutive year of citywide budget reductions as Boulder contends with rising costs and sluggish revenue growth.
The Parks and Recreation Department has tried to bring in more money by raising fees and introducing a new membership program. But additional service reductions were expected in 2027 because expenses continued to outpace revenue.
A neighborhood gathering place
Spruce Pool began as an offshoot of the ice business next door. The Hygienic Ice and Coal Company built an enclosed swimming pool at Spruce and 21st streets in 1922, using warm water produced during ice manufacturing at its adjacent plant. Known as the Hygienic Swimming Pool, it opened the following year.
Historic photographs preserved by the Carnegie Library for Local History show children taking swimming lessons there, including classes sponsored by the Boulder School Board. The city bought the pool in 1950. In 1963, it demolished the enclosed building and reopened the site as the outdoor Spruce Pool.
Longtime swimmers said Spruce has become a gathering place that cannot be replicated at Boulder’s other pools. They described Scott Carpenter Pool as busier and more like a water park, with larger crowds, more amenities and difficult parking. Spruce, they said, is quieter and more conducive to conversation. Stein described it as an informal third place where people can catch up with friends without making plans in advance, particularly for Boulder retirees.
The prospect of losing that community has alarmed regulars.
“It’s a devastating loss to us,” said Mary Gorman, 73, who uses the pool for physical therapy and said it helped her reconnect with neighbors after the pandemic closures.
Regulars said Spruce also tends to draw fewer competitive swimmers than Scott Carpenter, leaving more room for older adults, people recovering from surgery and residents with mobility limitations. Gorman said the pool is important to residents’ physical and mental health.
Other swimmers questioned the prospect of closing a public pool as Boulder’s summers grow hotter. They said Spruce can provide relief during hot weather, particularly for people without air conditioning at home.
Schuttenberg said the city has no plans to sell the property, but some regulars worry that a closure could eventually lead to its sale.
“The value of Spruce is so much more than the dollars a developer is looking at,” said Deborah Fryer, another swimmer.
Stein and other residents said they hope to work with the city to find a way to keep the pool open.
Fewer visits, higher costs
Spruce’s operating costs have exceeded its revenue since it reopened in 2023, according to city staff. In 2025, the pool closed weeks before its traditional Labor Day closing date as the city sought to reduce costs.
Spruce, which is much smaller than Scott Carpenter Pool, recorded about 15,000 visits in 2024, compared with 59,000 at Scott Carpenter.
That year, Spruce cost about $203,000 to operate and generated roughly $120,000 in revenue, leaving an $83,000 gap covered by what the city calls a “subsidy” from elsewhere in the Parks and Recreation system.
City spokesperson Kate Hernandez said the one-time $134,000 allocation from the general fund would cover the projected gap between the pool’s expenses and revenue in 2027.
“This subsidy is not something we can afford after 2027,” she said.
City staff said staffing, pool chemicals and utilities have also become more expensive. Gas and electricity for the pool cost about $9,600 in 2019. By 2024, that figure had more than tripled, to $32,900.
Schuttenberg said substantially raising admission prices was not a workable solution because Boulder already charges fees at the higher end of the market.
“It is a balancing act,” he said. Charge too much, he added, and fewer people use the facility, reducing revenue.
Keeping Spruce open beyond 2027 without a new source of money would likely require cuts elsewhere in Parks and Recreation, Schuttenberg said. He said the department has prioritized access for lower-income residents, older adults on fixed incomes, people with disabilities and children, along with basic park maintenance, including cleanliness and safety.
“Moving forward, there’s a lot of unknowns, but at this point we just don’t have the operating budget beyond 2027,” Schuttenberg said. He said he hoped the city would discuss possible new funding sources next year.
The recommended budget will undergo several public reviews. The city council is scheduled to discuss it at a study session on Sept. 10 and will hold public hearings on Oct. 1 and 15.
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is scheduled to review the budget and make a recommendation to the city council at its Sept. 28 meeting. Board Chair Andrew Bernstein said members were not briefed on the proposed loss of ongoing Spruce Pool funding before the budget was released publicly on Aug. 28. The board reviews the Parks and Recreation budget each year and recommends whether the city council should approve it.
“I’ve never seen a PRAB not recommend the budget,” Bernstein said. “However, this is the first time we’ve ever been asked to recommend a budget that includes service cuts.”
Brooke Stephenson contributed reporting to this story.
Boulder shutting down recreational amenities is a sign of how pathetic its management is. The city can find $30 million in tax breaks and subsidies for Sundance but not $150k to run an outdoor pool? The city can’t find the funds to renovate south Boulder rec center? Or funds to build a few indoor tennis courts? But please take note of the RFP just issued for developers to submit proposals to redevelop the civic area as mixed use(more unnecessary commercial space, less downtown green space). Honestly, the city is just not well run and the opacity of the budget should be of concern to all Boulder residents. We need a permanent independent auditor to track our tax dollars.
Someone needs an audit, but not the city. $30 million in Sundance subsidies *over 10 years* (most of which is free parking and free HOP service), when expected revenue is well over that *per year* is what’s known as an investment. And since the problems with maintaining and building infrastructure are a revenue problem, that investment will help close budget gaps.
Also, anyone who wants to look at the city budget can see it on the city’s website. A victory for clarity over opacity.
I agree with all these comments. What can we do as residents? I have yet to hear from anyone that is happy with how our city is being run. And the COB is seriously asking for MORE money from us? How about make incentives for businesses to come and stay so that we get more sales tax. The damage that is being done by the current administration will not be recoverable if natural ecosystems, schools and recreation areas are turned into rental condos to make a few investors rich.
Maybe the City could cost costs in other departments to fund this needed community benefit. How about starting with the bloated city planning department staff or the unnecessary number of city communication employees. One or two FTEs cut, through attrition, could easily fund the pool.
This is Lynn Stein. Thanks, Por, for getting this important article. These changes must not be made without community input. If you want to be involved working to save pool access, please email WeLoveSprucePool@gmail.com. We need everyone! Show up to City Council meetings, write to Council, Parks & Rec, Parks and Rec Advisory Board, brainstorm ideas to increase revenue, help get the word out. We can provide information. Budget will be approved in October, so we’ll be moving fast. Join us in making waves!
Lynn, I’ve signed up for your mailing list to stop this travesty.
Boulder has already become inhospitable to families with young children; closing Spruce would just be another nail in the coffin to show that the city does not want children.
Spruce has suffered since the pandemic: it’s a doom loop: cut the hours, less people go, cut the hours more, even less people go.
It’s now 11am start: useless if you want to swim in the morning.
All this for $100K?
Everyone knows the best time to swim is in the morning before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in!
BRL, a few things in this article deserve more scrutiny.
(1) Net Staff Reduction: The “staff reduction” story is incomplete. The city is eliminating positions while adding others. What matters is the net reduction in staff, not cherry-picking the cuts. Taxpayers deserve the full number.
(2) Operating Budget: it is absurd that Spruce Pool is even on the chopping block. One fully loaded communications position would nearly cover the pool’s entire annual operating cost. We should be cutting administrative bloat before cutting a community asset that thousands of residents actually use.
(3) Vicious Cycle of Mismanagement: the city has helped create the lower attendance it now points to. Hours have been cut, the duck slide was removed rather than repaired or replaced, and the facility has been increasingly neglected. You can’t reduce a facility’s usefulness and then use lower attendance to justify cutting it.
(4) Hypocrisy on Equity, Inclusion and 15 Min Neighborhoods: The hypocrisy is hard to miss. The city constantly talks about equity, inclusion and 15-minute neighborhoods. What better example is there than a walkable downtown pool serving families, seniors and residents who can’t simply escape Boulder’s summer heat?
(5) Priorities: Finally, There is plenty of money in the existing operating budget to keep Spruce Pool open. This is about priorities. City Council needs to stop cutting the services residents value while protecting City’s administrative bloat. Boulder needs a spending problem solved, not another community asset sacrificed.
The community should form a nonprofit to run this pool as it’s clear the city is failing. In this most basic function. The $130k is a rounding error on the budget while we spend millions on new offices for City Staff at Alpine/Balsam and expensive over engineered bike lanes (Baseline) that riders never use. Confidence in our City’s government is at an all time low.
Between selling lane time to swim teams, reducing the staggering cost of admission ($15!) and promoting it more, a nonprofit could surely operate this without a loss. Since when is our tax dollars considered a “subsidy” for basic public amenities?
The Park and Rec department has long ignored their own Aquatic needs study and gone off on other tangents by building expensive multimillion dollar project elsewhere (Civic Center and Cousins Park) before following their own principle of “maintaining what we have’”. As a former member of the PRAB, I witnessed this firsthand when they first proposed shuttering South Boulder Rec Center. Unfortunately my opinions were not welcomed by the Dept and I was pushed out.
I grew up walking to Spruce Pool just about every summer’s day. I celebrated birthdays there. I learned to swim there. They’re already closed the kiddie pool (on the east end) many years ago, and ruined the slide/diving board situation. Looks like they’ve cut down and not replaced the shade-giving trees, now, too.
Defunding it is silly and shortsighted. Funding the pool, which makes money (bring back Ms Pacman, make a little more!) and creates community. That’s the business we should be in. Closing and then reopening later just creates deferred maintenance/repairs that are all the more expensive.
Of all the things the City could do to make the budget work, their solution always involves the loss of swimming pools.
First, SBRC pool. Now Spruce pool & reduced hours at Scotty.
This, after all the community vocalization supporting pools and data showing the demand for lap pool lanes exceeds supply.
This, when there’s a planned future pool outage at EBCC for renovations.
But this is about more than pools. It will affect everyone in the City as more residents are added and community assets are reduced/eliminated. The scales have been tipping that other communities are more desirable to live in than Boulder. Property values and sales tax revenue will decline. I feel the difficulties of Boulder everyday raising kids here – it’s not the same kid-friendly, family-friendly town I grew up in.
Keep the pools for the kids. It’d be a shame if that’s another reason we have to drive out of Boulder for a normal activity.
I agree, user fees are obviously reduced when the pools or rec centers are not open. You can’t earn money when the doors are shut.
I think in the big picture, we’re all wanting the rec center facilities to be open and operational more often instead of operating hours reduced and facilities under maintained. Creative implementations are needed to prevent Boulder from sinking into a community depression. Think of training and hiring volunteers to open the rec centers and pools. Create a donation box, $1/per visit for current users, especially the Silver Sneaker attendees who get in free because of their health insurance. Increase whatever revenue agreement BPR has with Medicare Advantage and other insurance companies. Solicit the University of Colorado public administration’ students to create plans to enhance the City of Boulder’s budget dilemma.
I spent many hours at the Hygenic, both swimming and roller skating. Plus getting ice chips at the Ice Plant afterwards.
The Spruce Pool is a vital resource for Boulder residents…..especially people that are above college age. I swim there a lot because it’s the only outdoor pool in Boulder that’s good for grown ups. Scotty is a mad house, ….more like a water amusement park. Perfect for babies and young kids but not so good for grown ups. Lets make Spruce work…Maybe a fresh coat of paint & have a concession stand for ice cream, candy bars, & beverages. No cooking needed. There has to be a way……let’s keep it open!!!