The Budlong Pool’s opening date seems to have gone down the drain indefinitely, at least for this season.

At a City Council public works committee last week, Chief of Staff Anthony Moretti shared the news that the Budlong Pool will not open this summer following the surprise discovery of an undocumented aqueduct which has delayed continued construction on the pool’s renovation.

An opening date previously set for July 1 by Mayor Kenneth Hopkins and his administration; Moretti told the committee that they do not anticipate having the pool open this year stating that too much time has gone on in the repair and process for draining the pool, to open in time for the season.

The mystery aqueduct was first brought to the public’s attention at last month’s City Council meeting. This discovery had stopped any further excavation of the site from moving forward as engineers from the city and outside firms worked to figure out the solution to deal with it.

Following a “scoping” procedure a few weeks ago, Moretti said the suggested solution is to cap the aqueduct which is not as simple as it sounds.

According to Moretti, the aqueduct went into what he says is a four-by-four “vault” site. Then on the other side of the vault, the aqueduct continued to the pool.

To cap the aqueduct at the vault site, he said they would need to drain the water in the vault, place sandbags, then pour concrete in that vault. Once completed, then the water in the pool would need to be drained.

Councilwoman Bridget Graziano and Councilman Chris Buonanno had concerns about the impact this solution could have on the new pool, the surrounding environment and water table.

“That was the first question to make sure that it will not affect the integrity of the pool,” Moretti said. “So that is a basic premise to the work that’s going to be done.

Moretti said that although the water table will be affected, it will be an insignificant rise, according to Acting Department of Public Works Director Frank Corrao.

With the pool not reopening this season, Moretti said that the completion of the pool is anticipated to be sometime around October, well past the season, with a proposed reopening for summer 2026.

“Obviously the administration and the public are disappointed with what was uncovered,” Moretti said. “Certainly, it’s a setback but in the long term it’s being addressed to prevent the deterioration of the newly installed pool.”

Local resident, Amy said she used to work at Budlong Pool. She said the pool is an important part of the neighborhood and said it is disappointing that it has not been open for five years.

Amy said she didn’t expect it the pool to reopen this season stating that doesn’t have a lot of faith in the construction.

“It’s disappointing but the engineering firm did find the issue, and everything had to be safe for residents,” said Ward 2 Councilwoman Kristen Haroian. “But I heard the pool will reopen next summer from administration, so I’ll be looking forward to that.”

As an in-between for residents, Moretti said they are trying to put a rush on a splash pad project at Doric Park. Moretti said of the $941,000 left over in the Department of Parks and Recreation, about $250,000 will be allocated to the splash pad.

According to Moretti, the city has contracted O’Brien & Sons, a playground equipment supplier in Massachusetts for the project.

Moretti said he has heard that the equipment is on order, and they are waiting on plan designs from Meghan O’Brien, president of the company, who will work directly on the project.

Once those steps are completed, Moretti said they will start looking at contractors to begin construction.

Moretti said that although they will need to find out more information relative to the timing, he says hopefully they can get it done by early July or the latest, August 1.

“It’ll be nice to have something (the splash pad), I guess, for the kids, but I want to swim laps, so,” Amy said.

The proposed splash pad will be built on one of the two basketball courts in Doric Park says Moretti, and the other will be repaved. 

Sarah Goldberg, a local resident who lives near Budlong Pool said it would be nice to have a regular pool.

“I think it’s important for children to learn how to swim, and they’re not going to learn how to swim in a splash pad,” Goldberg said.

This online story was updated May 5, 2025.