The pool at Garrison Park is headed for permanent closure after a vote by the Concord City Council this week, and leaders are seeking public input as they weigh the future of the West Street Ward House.
With multiple ongoing major capital projects, Concord City Councilors have been wary of how much taxpayers can take on. At the same time, city leaders have been criticized for deferring crucial maintenance on city-owned facilities, like Memorial Field, over the years.
Two city facilities are in need of major investments — the pool and the ward house — and city staff came to the council this month asking, essentially, what they should do.
Garrison Pool
The Garrison Pool has been due for updating for several years. Garrison, with a smaller parking area and farther from dense neighborhoods, has historically seen the lowest attendance. In years when the city has been short on lifeguards (almost every year since COVID), it’s been the first pool to close.
Garrison Park is located just off North State Street, near Long Pond. Its 11 acres also host basketball courts, greenspace and a playground.
A city committee proposed changing the pool into a splash pad a few years ago, following the explosive popularity of the one at White Park, but those in the area who had used the pool weren’t keen on the idea. They didn’t think the park could accommodate the crowds drawn by a splash pad, and they preferred something that wasn’t just for kids.
With the pool closed season after season and capital funds headed into bigger projects, city leaders have kept the project on hold.
Now, the cost to revive the Garrison pool is estimated at $700,000, and councilors decided this week it’s just not worth that much to the city anymore.
“I’m going to be the bad guy and say it’s time we close this pool,” said Michele Horne, who represents Ward 2. She noted that, even under ideal staffing conditions, each city pool is used only for a fraction of the year. “I cannot think of a more unwise way to spend three quarters of a million dollars.”
It would mean the first decommissioning of a neighborhood pool since the city started building them in the 1930s, according to a past report. Garrison was built in 1938. From that point on, Concord boasted seven public pools, an uncommonly high number for the size of its population.
As costs rise and seasonal employment grows scarce, city leaders have wondered whether seven – or six plus one splash pad – is too many.
“We’ve got to make a decision to stop spending money somewhere, and I think this is the best way, the first way that we can do that,” Horne said Monday.
All but one member of the council agreed. Stacey Brown of Ward 5 wanted to give the public more chances to weigh in before nixing the pool. The meeting the city had with residents in 2024 didn’t ask about the prospect of closure.
The money for demolition, estimated at $190,000, wouldn’t come before next year’s city budget, so there is some time to continue planning for the park’s future before Garrison is actually filled in.
The park and pool were built there because of the Garrison School, Jennifer Kretovic of Ward 3 noted, which was closed and replaced by Beaver Meadow. The target audience, she said, is no longer there. Growing the park offerings in that area could come in the future, she said, but they should be more closely tied to neighborhoods as they are now.
Because of federal grants that had been put toward the park in the past, it can’t easily be turned into anything other than a public recreation resource. But, other councilors said, it has a lot of potential for other offerings once the pool is taken out.
Ward House
The council was less decided on the West Street Ward House.
It, too, is due for intensive upkeep: about $750,000 in needed repairs, per a city report, including a new roof that’s been deferred for about a decade.
The 1883 Ward House was built as a civic center and polling place and has long been a place for community meetings and events. It was a polling location, though today Ward 7 votes at the Abbot-Downing school. Its 2200 square feet include an open meeting room and a small stage.
Today, the Ward House is a small community center, rentable for meetings, classes and parties. Its appeal, beyond its neighborhood location, Parks and Recreation Director David Gill said, is that it does not require city staff on hand to rent, making it a better fit for evening meetings and parties.
At the same time, his report noted, its annual revenue fell about 40% short of meeting its $32,000 annual maintenance costs last year.
Investment in the repairs over the next few years is an option, as is selling the building with preservation requirements. The possibility of grant funding to cover repairs has not yet been explored.
City Councilors wanted input from residents, including South Enders, about how they see the future of the building. They expressed an intention to hold community meetings.
“I think there are people who are going to want to hold onto it,” said the Ward 7 councilor, Jim Schlosser. “I also think there’s a strong sentiment in my ward, in the South End and in the city as a whole appreciating the difficult choices of balancing tax expenses with the cost of keeping these buildings.”
