Community pool could open this month after lengthy delay

Rebuild of Spring Park community pool across from City Hall almost done

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – A Green Cove Springs community pool that was expected to be completed last year could be ready to reopen by the end of next week after a series of delays that the project's contractor says are not all his crew's fault.

The rebuilt community pool at Spring Park across the street from City Hall has been the talk of the town, because it's expected to be a huge draw once it opens.

“We’re hoping it brings in a lot of business,” said Christine Carawan, whose restaurant, Ronnie's Wings & Oysters, is across the street from the park. “It’s very pretty.  They’ve done an awesome job.”

Carawan said she's asked about the pool all the time.

“I get questions daily about how much longer (it will be), do I know when it will be open?” she said.

City leaders have been pushing the contractor, Core Construction in Jacksonville, to finish the project.

The city levied a $500-a-day fine about a month ago against the contractor for every day the project was behind schedule. That fine is now up to $1,000 a day, but Jay Chung, president of Core Construction, said his crews aren't solely responsible for the delay.

“First of all, (the city) opted to be the site contractor on the job,” Chung said, which he said delayed the project three months.

He said the city also had “a lot of revisions (and) had to reissue a new set of plans right around the end of August.”

City officials said they hope the pool will be open by summer break.

Chung said his crew hopes to have the fences around the project down and the pool open by around May 19.

Chung said he has agreed to pay the fines, but he still doesn’t feel totally responsible for the delay.


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Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.