City of Louisville plans for new pool at Algonquin park

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville city leaders call it a multi-million-dollar crime fighting tool filled with water. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg is sinking all that cash into a new pool at Algonquin park.

The pool is not expected to open until at least summer 2025. The city expects this to be more than just a place for kids to go swimming.

For energic two-year-old Ava-Marie Self, the Algonquin pool should be complete by the time she's ready to learn how to swim.

“I’m excited and relieved as you can see, I have a rambunctious toddler here, she loves the playground and would love to for her to learn how to swim and have a place locally for to that,” Robin Kay Monk Self, Ava-Marie's mother, said.

Access to a public pool on the west side is limited to say the least. Louisville has just two fully functioning outdoor pools for the entire city — one at Nelson Hornbeck Park in Fairdale and the other at Sun Valley Park near Valley Station.

The Algonquin pool was first filled with water in 1968. It was a summertime hot spot for decades. But, vandals and crime slowly crept into the area, and the pool paid the price.

“So many kids being able to have access to a pool here right in the west end and not just any pool," Louisville Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins (D-1) said.

The new pool is designed with families in mind, and to provide programs designed to engage kids and younger adults.

“Well, when you have programming around any swimming pool it decreases crime, and I'm a firm believer that the west deserves the best, access is vital, it is vital to the reduction of crime," Hawkins said.

Hawkins said the city will provide the funding for the pool as well as funds from the American Rescue plan, and several non-profits will provide the programs to neighborhood kids.

“Definitely need more access, I'm just delighted went from being dishearten to a pool closing to delighted,” Hawkins said.

The pool will offer passes and learn to swim programs for young adults.

Ava-Marie doesn't know it yet, but she will be part of the Algonquin pool future. Her mother is hopeful swimming lessons will lead to more than just laps in the pool.

“As a former youth pastor, I would love to see more life and teenagers and all that is connected to come, the more they are reinvested in the more you will see good come out," Robin Kay Monk Self said.