LA GRANGE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Oldham County's only pool will sit empty again this year, but the repairs needed to get it all up and running again have begun.

After the pool was closed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Judge-Executive David Voegele said "structural and mechanical problems" discovered in 2021 led to a point where repairs need to be made now. 

"It wasn't holding water," Oldham County Parks Director Gary Parsons said Tuesday. "We were having to fill pretty much 24/7 to keep water in the pool."

So the Oldham County Fiscal court approved over $10 million for projects to build a new Oldham County Animal Shelter and renovate the aquatic center. Parsons says the cost of the pool renovations is $3.7 million.

"It's been a struggle with it being closed," Parsons said. "I did not want to close it, but we couldn't keep water in it, which, at the same time, we couldn't keep chlorine in it." 

Parsons said pipes underground and in the pump room will be replaced, and the swimming pool facility's large pool will be separated into two smaller ones. He said among the changes will be a new climbing wall area and the removal of the existing bridge. Otherwise, Parson said, it'll look relatively similar to what it did prior to the closure.

Rachel Baines, aquatics supervisor for the pool who started working there when she was 14, said it feels like she can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

"There's a need for this place, not only for just the adults that grew up here but also the kids that are missing out on it," Baines said. "Those kids are the children of those adults that grew up here. They just want to share that with their children, and it's really cool to see in this community."

"The fact that they are so willing to put the work into a pool that has so many memories for so many people in this community, it sincerely means a lot," Baines said.

The pool will be closed for this season but should reopen by Memorial Day 2024. In the meantime, Parsons said the county will pay for half the price of a YMCA memberships for June, July and August and half of a membership to Calypso Cove in Louisville.

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