The bad news is the pool at Arcadia Park will not re-open this summer, or even next summer.
The good news is that an entirely new pool and bathhouse will be built at the Los Angeles County Park, with a ribbon cutting expected in time for a grand opening in the summer of 2012.
The pool at Los Angeles County's Arcadia Park circa 1940s; photo courtesy Arcadia Historical Society
The Arcadia Park pool has been closed for nearly a month after an excess of chlorine made its way into the pool at Arcadia Park on July 19, causing the pool to be evacuated and 34 kids between the ages of 6-11 to be decontaminated, 17 of which were hospitalized, none of which suffered serious injuries.
An inspection of the pool and other County pools was ordered, with the Arcadia Park pool to remain closed until testing was concluded. A report on those findings is due Thursday. The end of the summer swim season at the pool was to be three more weeks — Labor Day, Sept. 6.
But Imee Perious, public information officer for the County Department of Parks and Recreation, told ArcadiasBest.com today that because the pool would not have re-opened until after the findings report later this week at the earliest, leaving only two or three weekends of swimming, and because it appears that at least $80,000 in repairs are needed, the County decided to keep the pool closed and get an early jump on work relating to the previously planned replacement of the pool.
That $8 million replacement project, which received funding in January, was scheduled to have a groundbreaking this fall, with construction to take 18-months, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the new pool and bath house in spring 2012. The existing bathhouse and facilities will be torn down and replaced, Perius said.
The County has been replacing pools throughout the county over the past five years. The County opened Arcadia Park in 1938. The photo above right shows the pool shortly thereafter.
The timing of the replacement of the Arcadia Park pool just after the shut down due to the chlorine incident is a coincidence, Perius said.
Kids and families who had been taking classes at the pool this summer and still had several weeks left, were notified of the pool’s closing last month.
— By Scott Hettrick