Overland Park will plan to open the aging Bluejacket Pool this summer amid concerns over leaks and the facility’s long-term future.
On Wednesday, city staff told the Overland Park City Council’s Community Development Committee that repairing the leaks would be more costly — and possibly less cost effective — than just eating the cost of the water and chemical loss caused by the leak.
With that in mind, the city intends to open the pool for the summer season alongside its other operating outdoor pools on May 26, the Sunday before Memorial Day.
Bluejacket Pool repairs could cost $100K
- Overland Park Parks and Recreation Director Jermel Stevenson said fully repairing the leaks could cost the city between $60,000 and $100,000.
- Doing the work would also likely mean Bluejacket Pool could not open on schedule this summer.
- On the other hand, the leak itself cost the city about $10,000 in water and chemical loss last year.
- If kept at the status quo, staff expect the leak to cost the city about that much this year, significantly less than the cost of repairing a pool with an uncertain future.
- With that in mind, Assistant City Manager Kate Gunja said the recommendation is to open Bluejacket Pool this year without doing the repairs.
Bluejacket Pool’s future is still uncertain
- Stevenson reiterated this week that Bluejacket Pool has functionally reached the end of its useful life.
- Plus, the city’s parks and recreation master plan adopted in 2013 suggested the pool should be decommissioned around 2023 anyway.
- That plan also identified Stonegate Pool for closure around 2033, and called for decommissioning both Roe and Marty pools, which has already happened.
Councilmembers split plans for Bluejacket this summer
The majority of the committee on Wednesday did express some level of discomfort with the current state of the pool and the sustainability of leaching water and chemicals into the ground at the 10-acre Bluejacket Park.
However, the consensus of the group on Wednesday was that opening the pool as is would be better than the alternative of sinking funds into repairing it or closing it outright.
Still, Councilmember Scott Mosher seemed strongly opposed to opening it at all in 2024.
“It just seems to me like it’s a waste of $10,000 of the taxpayers’ money to keep that open when we know we have a loss,” he said.
On the other hand, Councilmember Drew Mitrisin, who represents Ward 2 where Bluejacket is located, said the future of the pool is the number one issue he’s hearing about from residents.
“People are very strong advocates to have this pool open,” he said. “They see it as a huge value to their neighborhood, not just to their quality of life but to their property values.”
Next steps for Bluejacket Pool:
What will become of Bluejacket Pool — and Overland Park’s other aging aquatic facilities — will be decided during the new parks and recreation master plan process currently underway.
The new plan, called Playbook OP, could be approved later this year.
After that plan is approved, city staff are recommending adding funding to the capital improvement plan list for 2025 that would help with the community engagement and planning elements needed to formulate a long-term plan for Bluejacket Pool and the wider park in which it resides.
Exactly what that will look like at this stage and what will ultimately happen to the pool remains unclear.
Looking back: Overland Park’s Bluejacket Pool has major leaks. Will it ever reopen?
