Chelsea Pool Shut Down Indefinitely

The Chelsea Outdoor Pool was bustling with kids and parents every summer since it opened in 1956. But after 56 years, the pool is closed indefinitely.

City engineer Alan Shubert told ABC-7 the expansion locks, which are found in the concrete bowl where the walls and floors curve, had been leaking. The leaking water then seeped into the ground that supported the pool.

“It created a serious settling problem where the concrete was breaking and settling differentially. Certain areas were settling faster than others. So at that point, it had failed structurally,” Shubert said.

The structural failures then caused pipes to burst, which meant the water going to the pool wasn’t maintaining the proper water chemistry, Shubert added.

The damage to the pool is so extensive, there is no short-term fix. That means the city must close the pool. Shubert said there isn’t a way to simply repair the pool; rather, it must be replaced.

“We don’t have an active capital project or fund to fund replacement right now,” Shubert said. “So there’s really nothing today that we can do.”

The pool closure is sad news for Refugio Ceballos. Ceballos told ABC-7 that he and his wife moved into the neighborhood surrounding the Chelsea pool back in 1974 because of its proximity.

“We were looking ahead. We were looking for a place for the kids to grow up,” Ceballos said.

The Central El Paso resident said he and his family held and attended many a pool-side birthday party over the years, and even his grandchildren have been able to swim in the pool where their parents once did. Now, swimming in this neighborhood is just a memory.

“It’s sad, you know,” Ceballos said, shaking his head. “It is something that will be hurting the community as a whole.”

The city is asking residents to use Grandview Outdoor Pool, at 3100 Jefferson Ave., or any of the other city’s 14 pools while the Engineering and Construction Management Department identifies long-term construction options and costs.