Fianna Dickson, Communications Manager, Parks & Recreation, No Phone Number Available
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 at 4:29 p.m.
Swim season just wrapped up – regular season at the City’s 6 aquatic centers concluded with free open swimming on Saturday, August 16.
But year-round swimming at a renovated indoor pool may be in Spokane’s future.
The Together Spokane initiative (a Parks levy and School bond, two separate but aligned proposals on the November ballot) would renovate the shuttered indoor pool at Spokane Community College for year-round use.
The pool would be a public facility serving youth, adults, and seniors.
As the city’s only indoor public pool, it would offer:
Drowning is a leading cause of death for young children, and people with Autism. Free lessons for SPS 2nd graders would aim to increase water safety skills for our area youth.
“No family in Spokane should ever feel the impact of a child that’s drowned,” Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Adam Swinyard told KHQ. “This would definitely be a significant foundation for (second graders) to give them those critical water safety skills and awareness to mitigate that drowning risk that we unfortunately face in our community,” Swinyard added to the Spokesman-Review.
The public indoor pool would augment Spokane Parks & Recreation’s six outdoor aquatic centers that are open for no-cost public swimming and affordable swim lessons 9 weeks/year.
Swim lessons fill quickly in the summer, and a year-round pool would bring additional swim lessons for youth and adults. It would also provide more public access.
“We had over 100,000 visits just in that stretch of time this summer,” Spokane Parks & Recreation’s Aquatics Supervisor Josh Oakes told KXLY. “There are a lot of people that want access to swimming, whether it’s for fitness, for fun or mobility issues.”
It would also mean more sensory sensitivity swim time for those with special needs.
“It’s like another world for a lot of swimmers with disabilities, and it’s another opportunity to exercise and feel freedom,” Recreation Supervisor Alice Busch told KXLY. Alice runs the Therapeutic Recreation Services program for people with disabilities, and sees demand for year-round pool time from the community she serves.
Partnering to renovate this existing facility would cost a fraction of the tens of millions that would be needed to build a new indoor aquatics center. The School bond would fund the renovation, and the Parks levy would provide ongoing maintenance and operations.
The project would move forward if both the Parks levy and School bond pass in November, as one of the “30+ additional projects” completed jointly.
Read more about the indoor aquatic center and 200+ additional projects on the Together Spokane website.
