The renovation of the BCYF-run pool will include “pool and locker room upgrades, mechanical systems replacement, [a] new dehumidification system” and interior painting as well as exterior work according to a description of the work in the proposed 2012 city capital budget.
Holden told the Gazette that a preliminary design plan for the renovated pool will be released in June and that community meetings wil be held over the summer to gather community input.
It is unclear when the work will start and how long it will take. “There is always a chance…that the scope of the work will have to be modified,” Holden said. But, she said, work will not begin before renovations to the Curtis Hall Community Center in Jamaica Plain are completed this fall.
Curtis Hall, which also has a pool, has been closed and under renovation for about a year.
Dennis Kirkpatrick from the Roslindale Community Center Council—a local oversight body for Roslindale’s BCYF facilities—told the Gazette that prominent among the pools programs is “the Flaherty Dolphins, a predominantly black and Latino champion class swim team of kids ages 6 to 18.” One of the few swim programs in the city that targets minority youths, “The Dolphins have kids coming from every community in the City of Boston to learn, swim, and be part of this team.”
Kirkpatrick said he is hopeful that the construction schedule will not interfere with the “competitive swimming season, which runs November to March, but in all honesty, the pool users will be willing to sacrifice for a better pool when necessary.”
The pool’s regular hours are 5:30 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, see www.roslindalecc.org.