Some SLO County pools reopen for summer swimming after COVID closures, funding cut
Three of the community swimming pools run by the San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Department will reopen on a limited basis after being closed for more than a year, officials confirmed.
San Miguel Pool, Templeton Pool and C.W. Clarke Pool in Shandon will be open on alternating weekends until Sept. 5 or 6, depending on the location.
However, Santa Margarita Lake Pool, Hardie Pool in Cayucos and Shamel Pool in Cambria will remain closed for the rest of 2021.
“We prioritized the three North County pools due to the heat in that area and lack of good access to other water-based recreation in those communities,” county parks director Nick Franco explained via email on July 29.
“We had expected to keep all pools closed this entire summer,” Franco wrote. “Pools were closed last year due to COVID-19 restrictions and, during the budget reductions last year, a permanent cut to our pool funding was implemented by the (county) Board of Supervisors.”
During budget hearings in June, the board voted to restore funding for the county pools, he wrote.
That presented another problem: Staffing the facilities in time for the rest of the summer swimming season.
The parks department normally recruits lifeguards in the spring and trains them in April and May, Franco explained.
“We didn’t have enough time to recruit, train and hire sufficient lifeguards to open the pools in the four weeks since the budget was restored,” he wrote.
With some scrambling, the department was able to assemble “a very small group of seven guards trained and hired,” Franco wrote.
The agency’s new assistant director, Tanya Richardson, who is a lifeguard instructor, will help out as well, he added.
Open hours will be offered on “a very limited schedule of the next six weekends, alternating among Shandon, San Miguel and Templeton pools,” Franco wrote.
There’s not enough trained staff to open the North County pools on weekdays during that time, he wrote.
Although Cambria, Cayucos and Santa Margarita Lake pools won’t open at all in 2021, Franco wrote, “We expect to be able to open all the pools again next summer.”
According to the county Parks and Recreation Department website, Templeton Pool will be open 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday as well as Aug. 14, 15, 28 and 29 and Sept. 4 through 6.
San Miguel Pool will open 1 to 5 p.m. Aug. 14, 15, 21 and 22 and Sept. 4 and 5.
The Shandon pool will open 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday as well as Aug. 21, 22, 28 and 29 and Sept. 6.
For more information, go to slocountyparks.com/aquatic-programs.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 2:04 PM.
