Early-bird swimmers were already waiting when Carlsbad’s Monroe Street Pool reopened Tuesday, diving into a newly renovated facility that took more than a year and about $21 million to rebuild. The city said it caught up with a few of those first swimmers to hear what the moment felt like after the pool’s long closure.
“There’s nothing like that first swim,” the City of Carlsbad
wrote in a social media post Friday, adding that “some early birds were ready and waiting” for the pool’s debut. The post described speaking with a handful of the swimmers about jumping into the refreshed facility, though it did not name them or detail their individual reactions.
A Pool Rebuilt From the Ground Up
The reopening caps a renovation that began in March 2025 on the 44-year-old pool, according to The Coast News. The project delivered a larger pool with 50% more lanes, an expanded deck, updated locker rooms, new family restrooms, and additional shade and bleacher seating, the outlet reported.
City officials and community members gathered at the pool on Oct. 29 to celebrate the completed renovation ahead of its scheduled public reopening, the same report noted. The facility was slated to reopen to swimmers at 6 a.m. on Nov. 3, and the city said it opened to the public that day.
Under Budget, Years in the Making
The project traces back to November 2022, when voters approved Measure J, authorizing the city to spend up to $24 million on the overhaul. The City Council then approved the construction contract on Jan. 14, 2025, setting the renovation in motion. When the work wrapped, the city had finished the job for about $21 million — under the amount voters had approved.
What Residents Said They Wanted
Before construction began, the city gathered public input through a 2020 survey that drew 944 respondents and 591 comments. Nearly half of those who weighed in, 49%, rated a larger pool as highly important, while 47% prioritized maximizing solar energy use and 45% wanted more availability for lap swimming. The city has cautioned that the survey was voluntary and not scientific, meaning its results could not be generalized to all Carlsbad residents.
Even with that caveat, the final design included a larger pool with 50% more lanes, an expanded deck and updated amenities. For the early swimmers who showed up Tuesday morning, the payoff was a renovated facility completed without busting its voter-approved budget.
