City of Dallas pools are aging. The oldest pool in the city was built in 1947. The newest was built in 1975.
And in 2009, the City sat down and thought it was time to do something about it.
The Aquatic Facilities Master Plan was developed over the course of three years, with a 2015 update, to replace the existing city pools with either an aquatic center or a sprayground.
While a decade ago the City focused on decommissioning city pools, the aging facilities came up again as a topic of concern during the last budget cycle. The initial recommendation in August 2025 called for the closure of three city pools per year over the course of three years.
In the adopted budget, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert cited the Legacy Pool realignment as a key initiative in positioning the Park and Recreation Department for even greater success.
By decommissioning aging pools with declining attendance, the City could support the department’s priorities of green space access, improved sustainability and resiliency of park infrastructure and strengthened community programming.
Here’s a look back at what was in store based on that 2015 updated plan.
Four options were presented to address the facility updates which included reconstructing 20 selected pools “as-is,” developing community family aquatic centers, developing regional family aquatic centers or a hybrid option.
The hybrid option was selected and adopted in 2013 with the intent to provide “a higher and more diverse level of service and price points” for city residents.
Under the hybrid option, the City selected moving forward with three regional (large) family aquatic centers (including Bahama Beach), five community (medium) family aquatic centers and three planned spraygrounds.
Additionally, the Park and Recreation Board adopted a resolution to utilize proceeds from the sale of Elgin B. Robertson Park in May 2015 to be utilized to support new aquatic facilities, bringing in $31.8 million in funding. This selected option was then updated in July 2015 with three to four of each aquatic facility type for the three regions of North, Central and South of the city to “provide an equal level of service with a cost recovery rate of 70-80%.”
Following the updated 2015 plan, new perimeters were adopted for some of the aquatic center definitions.
For example, the introduction of The Cove Aquatic Centers. These large facilities include an “eight lane lap pool with a diving board, climbing wall, and basketball goal, open and closed flume slides, current channel, crossing activity, toddler pool with an interactive play structure, shade structures, group pavilion, picnic tables and lounge chairs, a bath house with family changing rooms, lockers and a concession stand.” Those facilities include The Cove at Crawford, The Cove at Fretz, and The Cove at Samuell Grand. All three were a part of the first phase for the master plan.
Of the facilities listed in phase one and phase two of the 2015 update, many of the upgrades came from the 2017 bond funding. Those funded in part or all by the 2017 bond include: The Cove at Samuell Grand, The Cove at Crawford, The Cove at Fretz, Kidd Springs Aquatic Center, Lake Highlands North Aquatic Center, Tietze Family Aquatic Center, Exline Neighborhood Aquatic Center, Harry Stone Neighborhood Aquatic Center, the Kleberg-Rylie Park Sprayground, the Nash-Davis Park Sprayground, and the Timberglen Park Sprayground.
After the 2017 bond funding, that leaves three listed facilities as a part of the 2015 master plan phases one and two that have not been updated: the Park in the Woods Sprayground, Martin Weiss Recreation Center and Singing Hills Recreation Center.
Currently, with the 2024 bond package approved by residents, only the Singing Hills Recreation Center will receive funding allocation to upgrade aquatic facilities. Martin Weiss also received funding from the 2024 bond, but only for $9 million in upgrades to the recreation center and not aquatic facilities.
As for phase three, the Dallas Aquatics currently lists the Dallas ISD Partnership Program as a collaboration that provides “programs at a few of their indoor natatoriums.” Those programs include free swim lessons for Dallas ISD students, water fitness classes and lap swimming.
Water fitness and afternoon lessons were offered at the Pleasant Grove Pool from August 2025 to May 2026, with the latest iteration of free swim training for students available at multiple locations across Dallas from September 2025 to April 2026.
Over a decade later, City staff are now preparing an updated master plan. In a statement to the Advocate, a spokesperson for the Dallas Park and Recreation Department said a new master plan is being reviewed by the Aquatic Task Force, with recommendations expected and park leadership waiting for the final draft for review and approval.
