Denver Parks and Recreation will keep a 50-meter Olympic-sized outdoor pool at Mestizo-Curtis Park after months of debate, pool advocates told Denverite.
The decision would reverse an initial plan to replace the current swimming pool with multiple smaller pools.
A Denver Parks and Recreation spokesperson declined to comment on the change until after a community meeting on Thursday night where the announcement is expected to be made.
“Having a larger pool will allow all the kids from the neighborhood to swim,” said Milo Martinez, who worked as a lifeguard at the pool in the ‘90s and now chairs the Latino Education Coalition of Denver.
Built in 1936, the pool has been shuttered since 2023, leaving kids in Five Points and Curtis Park without a walkable place to swim for the past three summers, Martinez said. And with just a handful of 50-meter Olympic-sized pools at Denver’s public facilities, serious lap swimmers have been missing a favorite spot.
Denver voters approved $6.5 million in funding for pool renovations in 2021 as part of the Denver RISE bond. Neither a design nor a firm timeline for the rebuild of the Mestizo-Curtis Park facility have been announced.
An initial survey was sent out, and those who answered were mostly OK with a 25-yard pool.
After that, the parks department appeared to be settled on a smaller pool.
“The community was really not pleased with the community engagement that Denver Parks and Recreation had conducted, and they asked for authentic community engagement,” Martinez said.
Lap swimmers and community members protested.
John Hayden, who runs Thick's Gelato & Chocolates in Five Points and has been a swimmer for decades, said a coalition of Latino, African American and Anglo swimmers – old-timers and newcomers alike – petitioned the city for a 50-meter pool.
“What we noticed was happening was that all of the pools in the mainly minority neighborhoods were being removed entirely or being reduced in size, while the pool in southeast Denver, in Congress Park actually, went from a 50-yard pool to having both a 50-meter pool and a 25-meter pool configuration,” he said.
Hayden pointed to a former pool at La Raza Park and a downsized pool in La Alma-Lincoln Park as examples.
After receiving complaints from neighbors, Parks and Recreation put out an additional survey.
“The community voted to keep the 50-meter pool,” Martinez said.
The community still has questions about the future of the project, he said. Will the building’s current Emanuel Martinez mural be preserved? What amenities will be included for children? When will it all be done?
The parks department plans to share more information at a community meeting that will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Denver Language School Gilpin Campus, 2949 California St.
