Just in time for the beginning of fall, the Bud Kearns Pool in Balboa Park opened Monday.
It was closed for repairs in February and was supposed to open in April. Instead, it remained shut down for five extra months.
The pool was shut down while its 83-year-old main drain line was fixed at a cost of $149,000, according to San Diego's Parks and Recreation Department.
“We are very excited to be opening the Bud Kearns pool and returning this important amenity to North Park residents and the surrounding community,” said the department's director Herman Parker in a statement. “We appreciate the patience the community has shown while this major repair to the pool was completed. We know how important this facility is in providing the public a place where they can relax and stay cool especially when the weather gets warmer.”
But Bud Kearns still isn’t as good as new.
City staff plan to remove the perimeter curb around pool, restructure its gutter system to recirculate water and replace the perimeter fence. The city hasn't yet secured funding for those repairs. If it does, the pool could be closed again in February 2016 until the work is completed.
City Councilman Todd Gloria, whose district includes Balboa Park, said last month that those long-term permanent fixes are important.
"I'm going to have to keep shaking the tin can at City Hall to make sure we get the dollars to actually do that," he said.
More than $220,000 has been spent on upgrades to the pool and deck area in the last decade, according to the parks department.
The city estimates that 21,139 people visited Bud Kearns in 2014.
