BRUNSWICK, Ga. – As the weather warms up, many thoughts turn to fun in the sun and the water. But hundreds of Glynn County children won't have a nearby pool to go to this summer.
Glynn County officials decided Selden Park in Brunswick needed too many repairs, and they wouldn't get finished before summer ended. So the pool has officially been closed for the season.
The decision has upset many who say they now have to go a lot farther to take a dip.
County officials said the pool has a lot of problems, such as with the pumps, motors and filters, and they say fixing them will take a lot of money and time.
Eight-year-old Quincey Miller and his family live right down the road from the park, and they say they're disappointed the pool, a place they used to go to a lot, is closed this summer.
"I really miss it. I really want to go back, and I wish it was still open," Miller said.
He's not the only one. The pool usually sees about a 100 people a day from nearby neighborhoods.
"We got to go across town to Coffin Park. It's a ways away," said Marsha Demery. "And loading up all these kids to go blocks over there, it's kind of hard."
"We have been looking at this for several months," Glynn County spokeswoman Candice Temple said. "The timing of it, of course, couldn't be worse with the start of summer season."
The pool hadn't been open at all this season, and the county had been prepping to fix it since the spring. But at Tuesday's meeting with Glynn County officials, they decided there was no way they'd get it up to par this summer.
Estimates for the repairs on the 18-year-old community pool are now around $170,000.
"We do our regular maintenance for the pool, and you can only patch up things so much before it needs extensive renovations, a facelift," Temple said.
She said thanks to ordinances and laws and because the cost is over $100,000, the process of getting a contractor to fix it will take much longer. That's where it stands now, and even though this season is out of the picture, officials are optimistic the slimy green waters will be glistening and blue soon enough.
While the pool won't open for the summer, county officials want to remind residents there are other options. The county has one more pool, located at Neptune Fun Zone at 550 Beachview Drive in St. Simons Island. Residents can call 912-279-3720 for more information.
The city of Brunswick also has its own public pool, located at the Brunswick Aquatic Center at 1402 Lanier Blvd. For more information, call 912-554-0936.