Prattville has approved plans to tear down Pratt Pool, the aging municipal swimming hole that has lost water for decades and sat empty all summer over fears it could suddenly fail. The Prattville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to demolish the pool, clearing the way for a $95,000 contract and soil testing after the site is cleared to figure out what, if anything, should replace it.
The pool sits inside Pratt Park in Prattville, Alabama, and holds 750,000 gallons of water when full, according to montgomeryadvertiser.com. Accounts differ on exactly how old the pool is: that same report says it was built in 1978, while Elmore-Autauga News describes it as dating to the mid-1970s. Either way, the pool has leaked for decades, and the city has spent tens of thousands of dollars patching it over the years without solving the underlying problem.
An Engineer's Warning Sealed the Pool's Fate
Prattville decided not to open the pool for the 2026 season after officials grew concerned that undetected voids beneath the slabs and behind the pool walls could cause sudden structural failure. A licensed professional engineer's inspection turned up dangerous, hidden voids shifting beneath the concrete and walls, the same local outlet reports, a finding that pushed the council toward demolition rather than another round of repairs.
With that engineering assessment in hand, the city council awarded a contract to Murphy Excavation LLC, capped at $95,000, to tear down the pool along with its bathhouse and restroom facilities. The vote came during Tuesday's meeting, and the demolition will clear the site entirely rather than leave the old structure in place while the city decides on next steps.
What Comes Next for the Site
Because the land was developed with federal funding, it must continue to be used for public outdoor recreation, a requirement tied to that funding source. Soil testing after the demolition will play a central role in deciding what can be built there. Mayor Bill Gillespie said, “Once the pool is demolished, we will have the opportunity to do tests on the soil and see just what we will be able to build,” according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
Gillespie has called a new city pool a priority, but whether one gets built depends on funding, the mayor said. The city already has artist renderings on hand for a potential new pool and expanded splashpad, per Elmore-Autauga News, though construction would hinge on both feasibility and money. If the existing footprint cannot support a new structure's weight, the city could explore shifting the project to another spot on the property, the outlet reports.
City officials have previously floated a scaled-down approach: a smaller aquatic facility featuring a shallow-water pool for swimming lessons and water aerobics, a large splashpad, updated restrooms and ADA improvements, Elmore-Autauga News reported in August. The splashpad already next to the old pool will keep operating regardless of what else happens on the site, the Montgomery Advertiser notes. After demolition and subsurface testing wrap up, the city plans to pursue matching grant opportunities, including 50-50 federal grants, to help pay for whatever recreation project moves forward.
A Park With Options, and a YMCA Alternative Nearby
Pratt Park isn't short on amenities even without the pool. It already includes walking trails, pavilions, a large playground, fishing at Pratt Pond and an amphitheater, giving the city some breathing room as it sorts out the pool question. For residents who still want to swim, the Prattville YMCA has two pools at its facility and reportedly has not experienced the same problems reported at the city pool.
The YMCA has also discussed potentially developing a future aquatic facility on the back portion of its roughly 65-acre Prattville property, according to Elmore-Autauga News. City officials and the YMCA have talked about a larger aquatic-facility partnership, though the YMCA cautioned that such a project would take multiple years to put together. For now, Prattville's pool plans remain tied to what the soil beneath the demolished site will actually allow.
