Campbell's Pool Is Drained for Good. Here's Where the Swim Routine Went, and What's Still Being Decided
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
"This is one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in my professional career," Natasha Bissell, director of Campbell's Recreation and Community Services Department, told San José Spotlight after the city drained the Community Center pool in July. The pool opened in 1951 as part of Campbell High School's athletic department. It was heated, measured 25 yards by 20 yards, and became part of the community center when the city converted the campus in 1985. It closed permanently on July 15, 2026.
Three months later, the basin at the corner of Campbell Avenue is still empty. Residents are drawing the replacement now, and the city has said openly that it does not yet know how most of it will be paid for. The survey that closes October 30 will help decide what gets built, and it will also show the fundraisers how big their job is.
The plan had been to keep the old pool running until construction started. In 2025, the City Council approved $12 million for a new pool at the same site, and staff hoped to get through one last summer first.
The city's account at its August 6 community meeting explains why that didn't work. Staff already knew the inlets and gutters leaked. During a June closure for staff training, they found a significant leak in the main drain. With the inlets plugged and the pool turned off, it lost 8 inches of water in a day. Staff decided they could live with that until summer programming ended. On July 14, the water lost in 24 hours was too large to keep operating, and the pool closed immediately.
The cost of a repair settled the question. Current rules require two main drains and the pool had one. According to the city's meeting Q&A, fixing that alone would cost over $1 million and require tearing up the deck. It would still leave the leaking inlets and gutters, the mechanical room and the locker rooms untouched. That money would have gone into a 75-year-old shell the city already planned to replace.
The closure coverage in July said swim classes and programs were moving to the Westmont High School pool starting July 20. That arrangement was always summer-only. At the August 5 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, Bissell reported that the last day at Westmont would be Sunday, August 9. The next evening, staff told residents it was "not feasible to continue renting Westmont or other HS pools moving forward."
So Campbell has had no city-run swim programming of its own since mid-August. The city has given a clear order of priority for bringing some back. Its aqua 50+ classes come first, because staff consider that group the most vulnerable population they serve. Staff have had an initial conversation with a possible host site, but nothing is confirmed, and they said any program would start in the new year, not the fall.
The nearest public pool for most Campbell residents is Camden Pool at 3369 Union Avenue in San Jose. Camden knows about Campbell's closure and has heard from Campbell patrons. Its budget and processes differ from Campbell's, though, and it can't change its programming mid-year, so Campbell's classes can't simply move there. Individual swimmers can still use it. City of San Jose's facility page lists Camden's off-season schedule this way:
A $3 visit at Camden is about what Campbell used to charge. An hour-long session at the Campbell pool cost as little as $3. The bigger difference is the schedule. Camden has three lap-swim windows and no water aerobics, which is why the city is putting aqua 50+ first in its search for an interim home.
The city has held community meetings on August 6, August 24 and September 21, and has said the design will be "community driven." The August 6 Q&A and later updates show the main ideas on the table.
A second pool. Staff described a second pool as a way to run several programs at once, such as aqua fitness alongside lap swim, so the new facility could offer more than the old one. Residents raised sizing questions right away. One suggestion was a program pool "large enough for 45 water exercise participants." Swim team families asked about using the smaller pool for warm-ups and cool-downs at meets.
Lane count. Lap swimmers wanted to make sure a second pool wouldn't mean a smaller lap pool. They pointed out that only 6 lanes were available when military and summer programs were running. Staff said they would not recommend anything smaller than the current pool, and that the city's 2017 Facility Audit didn't propose anything smaller either.
Cover and facilities. Residents asked for a roof over the pool and new locker rooms. Staff said accessible, inclusive locker rooms are a priority. Questions such as chlorine versus salt water are being left to consultants.
Footprint. The only buildings on the campus listed as historic points of interest are Buildings A and B and the Heritage Theatre. The pool is not on that list. Staff also said the design could extend past the existing fence line if needed, as long as it still looks like part of the campus.
Residents are also designing outside the city's process. Friends of the Campbell Pool is an independent volunteer group, and the city now links to it from its aquatics page. Its October 2 newsletter reported 17 community-submitted designs, with strong interest in open swim, lap swim, swim lessons, youth swim team and masters swimming. The group says these are community ideas and not a final city plan. Campbell Museums has also given the group photographs of the pool from its Campbell High School years.
Every feature on that list affects the budget. At the August 6 meeting, the city put the funding picture like this:
| Item | Figure, as stated August 6, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Estimated project cost | About $12 million, subject to the community design |
| Available from the Parkland Dedication Fund | About $3.5 to $4.5 million |
| Remaining gap | Roughly $7.5 to $8.5 million |
| State grant, maximum request | Up to $8.5 million |
| State grant, possible award | Staff cautioned it could be only $200,000 |
| Other eligible grants identified | None so far |
The remaining gap is simple subtraction from the city's own figures, and the grant outlook doesn't close it. Staff said they had been told directly that Campbell will not score high enough to do well in the state grant competition. Construction and infrastructure grants are scarce, and the area's socio-economic profile usually doesn't qualify for them. Any state money that does come must be spent on a project finished within five years of the funds being issued.
When residents asked about the Measure K sales tax, staff said the money is held in escrow because the city has been sued. Measure K revenue was also meant to go to the General Fund for ongoing services, not to capital projects. When a resident asked whether the city would sell park land to a developer to close the gap, staff said Campbell is park deficient and the answer is "never."
That leaves fundraising, and city employees cannot solicit donations. That job belongs to the newly formed Campbell Parks and Recreation Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that is starting to raise money for the pool project. The city has also said its finance department is talking with a consultant about other funding options.
So the input residents give now sets the size of the fundraising goal. If they ask for a second program pool, a roof and full lane capacity, the $12 million estimate will be tested against those choices, and the foundation will be raising money for whatever design comes out of it.
The city's September 25 update set out the current stage:
The survey link and project updates are on the city's aquatics project page. The city has not given a timeline for a new pool. Staff said public projects take longer than private ones and that they will share the schedule once they have one.
For now, the pool is one of several civic changes on the same stretch of Campbell Avenue. A few blocks away, the Thursday concert series and new downtown operators have changed how the street is used in the evenings. The pool project is moving more slowly, with resident input closing on October 30 and no confirmed indoor or outdoor Campbell swim program before January at the earliest.
At Bouja Swenson Group, we follow projects like the Community Center pool because they shape daily life in Campbell long before they show up anywhere else. If you're thinking about how a civic project like this fits into your own plans, Alex and Matthew are glad to talk it through with you, starting with a free market analysis.
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