East Potomac Park Pool Closes – But For How Long?

Photo by PoPville flickr user nici161

Update from DPR:

“In the early spring, East Potomac suffered a structural failure which jeopardized the facility from opening this summer at all. DGS and DPR retained an engineer to provide an assessment of the structure who then made recommendations for a temporarily fix to safely get guests through the summer.

This facility is over 75 years old and with the current state of the infrastructure, it will take us longer than normal to properly winterize the building. If we do not take the time to winterize it properly, we risk a catastrophic failure and the facility being unusable for a very long time. We are all trying to avoid that. To ensure we have enough time to winterize it, the facility will close on September 30th which is still three weeks longer than most municipal pools on the east coast.”

A reader sends an update on the beloved East Potomac Park Pool:

“This is the infamous Fenty $50k heater pool. It really is a (albeit beat-up) gem. DPS abruptly closed it today and with apparent plans to demolish and rebuilt but with insufficient money to do so.”

OP also shares a detailed note from Council Member Brianne Nadeau:

A complete feasibility study was completed for the site and has been determined that:

The existing pool and deck was built in 1935 and has exceeded its life cycle of 75 years.
The pump room and underside of the pool deck show significant structural fatigue.
The existing pool configuration has a maximum dept of 7 feet with an abandoned diving well and falls short of the international standard for a 50 meter length.
The existing pool is not ADA accessible.
The existing pool house meets current guest capacity, but the current space configuration does not meet ADA compliance for plumbing fixtures or current code requirements.
The pool guest facilities have passed the mid-life cycle, approximately 44 yrs.
The current facility’s operations space does not meet the vision and function of a world-class facility.

So for all these reasons and others, DPR and DGS along with the Civil Engineers have determined that more than 80% of the facility needs to be demolished to meet DPR’s health, safety and function.

DPR/DGS has been working with NPS ( as the property still beings to them, the District is leasing the property) on the initial feasibility, planning and conceptual design of the pool and pool house. The concept was recently approved by the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). Our current budget is $3M. The Feasibility study shows that we need an additional $9M to make the above changes. DPR/DGS is making a request for FY17 funds to continue and carry out the changes above to ensure that all District residents have a safe and fun experience at the East Potomac pool for the next 75 years.

If the full funds are given to DPR, then we will start the full design and construction process.

**please note that the Capital Construction team at DPR and DGS has no intention to close the pool this year for the above renovations due to limited funding, however the current state of the pool ( the pump room, and pool deck need emergency maintenance and the pool may not be suitable for use until repaired)

Hope this is helpful. I’ll be working with my colleagues during the budgeting process to allocate the requested funds.