COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) – After years of standstill and closures the City of Columbus has announced that another summer will go by with only one of the four city pools open. This comes almost a year after the city announced it would renovate the other three pools.

The Psalmond Road, Rigdon Park, and Shirley Winston Pools opened in 2002 and have not been renovated since. The city began collecting Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funding for the renovations in May of 2022.

“If I knew 2017 was the last time I would have participated in any swimming activities at Shirley B. I would have gone every single day.”

Toyia Tucker – City Councilor, District 4

They have drawn up the new proposed designs after receiving community feedback last year and plan to make each park a little different from one another.

“The goal for us is to make them as similar as possible but feel a little different even though they’re all going to have the same amenities. So for us, the biggest part of that is themes and colors. But you can see here in the basics, they’re all rudimentary the same. But it’s going to be our job to make them all as bright and colorful and as inviting as possible. So that’s what they’re working on now.”

Holli Browder – Columbus Parks and Recreation Director

They plan to have the renovations finished by May 2024, so that all four pools will be open next summer. In addition, the city plans to add six additional splash pads at undecided locations in the coming years, two of which will be completed by May 2024.