Decades-old Potawatomi Park pool in South Bend closes. Here are other aquatic options

SOUTH BEND — When city workers began filling up the Potawatomi Park pool with water this spring, it became clear the sagging liner would prevent the facility from opening as planned on Memorial Day.

Now officials say the 67-year-old pool, its original concrete base weakened and its liner failing, is closed indefinitely while they consider whether and how to address the facility's structural problems.

“We still don’t know that it’s not going to open this year," said Jonathan Jones, director of recreation at Venues Parks & Arts. "We’re really at a decision point to try to gather more information.”

In response to the pool closure, the city has advertised its nine splash pads spread throughout South Bend and extended the hours of the Kennedy Park Water Playground on the northwest side. But several parents in Facebook community groups have complained that those options aren't an apt substitute for traditional swimming with children.

"There aren’t a lot of places that babies, kids, teenagers, adults and grandparents can exercise safely together," one parent wrote, "but swimming holes and swimming pools fill that niche."

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Community members also lament the timing of the decision, which comes just as summer is arriving.

Jones said staff have been tracking a "mounting set of maintenance issues" year after year. He described the pool liner as a shorter-term fix whose time has expired.

Though adding a new liner would likely take only a matter of weeks, Jones said the city worries that option would ignore the structural problems evidently occurring beneath the pool's exterior.

“Over the many years when (the concrete base) was starting to show wear and tear, the solution was to put a liner on it," he said. "That liner was essentially masking the other issues that were going on.

"Now that the liner has issues," he added, "that’s where we say, 'All right, let's do some more research to find out what’s going on.'”

As South Bend's only municipal pool, the Potawatomi pool drew nearly 7,000 visitors over the eight-week period it was open in 2021, according to Jones.

Decisions regarding the popular site will occur following more than $51 million in renovations to South Bend recreational spaces made from 2017 to last year as part of the "My Parks & Trails program." The pool wasn't included in the dozens of projects planned for that initiative.

"With all of those additions, our aquatic area is the next thing on our docket," Jones said. The pool is "definitely not something we want to just remove from the community.”

"It's like an episode of one of those HGTV shows," Jones added of site inspections. "You start digging into something and you don’t know what you’re going to find.”

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Other aquatic options

There are several neighborhood pools in South Bend, such as Twyckenham Hills Community Pool, Swanson Highlands Community Pool and Arlington Swim Club, but each charges hundreds of dollars for a seasonal membership. Day passes are available only if guests visit with a member.

Mishawaka's outdoor Merrifield Pool, at 1000 E. Mishawaka Ave., will be open this Monday, June 6, until Aug. 9. Non-residents can buy family day passes for $15 or family season passes for $185. Individual or senior day passes are cheaper.

The Kennedy Park Water Playground is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. until Aug. 7. Starting Aug. 8 and running until Sept. 5, the site will be open only on weekends.

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Though regular use of other South Bend community pools requires a season pass, lessons are available to kids and adults at several sites.

Four-session swim lessons are available in Twyckenham Hills for $75 starting the week of June 13 and running through July. Arlington Swim Club offers eight half-hour lessons for $60, while Swanson Highlands lists the same offer at $155 for non-members.

In its aquatic center, the Salvation Army Kroc Center offers multiple sessions of parent-child swim lessons for $25, as well as separate youth and adult lessons. Group aquatic classes are available multiple times a week to non-members through a $10 day pass.

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend's Potawatomi Park pool closes. Here are other options