Reimagine South Boulder Rec Center

Just a friendly reminder to join us for a town hall meeting with City Council member, Tara Winer on Sunday, August 30th at 4 pm. We’re excited to have the opportunity to hear directly from Tara, ask questions, and have a conversation about the issues that matter most to our community.

📅 Date: August 30th
⏰ Time: 4 pm
📍 Location: Harlow Platts Pavilion

Look forward to seeing you all there! Families are welcome.

Hello, Community Members!

The Reimagine South Boulder Recreation Advocacy Group is incredibly grateful to Tara Winer for her support of the South Boulder Recreation Center. During the last city council meeting Tara stood up for our community and successfully helped get the language amended for the ballot measure to reflect community priorities.

Tara will be running for re-election this November and our advocacy group is hosting a town hall meeting.

Please join us on Sunday, August 30th at 4 PM at the Harlow Platts Pavilion for a Q&A session. This is a great opportunity to show our support for Tara, ask questions, and hear directly from her about the issues facing our community. Families are welcome!

If you have a question for Tara please submit in the comments below. We will do our best to have Tara answer as many questions as possible during the event.

🏊‍♀️ What: Town Hall With Tara Winer
🏃‍♀️ When: August 30th @ 4pm
⛹️‍♀️Where: Harlow Platts Community Park Pavilion

Please share with friends and neighbors! Hope to see you all there.

- Reimagine South Boulder Advocacy Group

🎉 THE LAP POOL IS IN THE BALLOT LANGUAGE! 🏊‍♀️💙

On Thursday, the City added “lap pool” to the ballot language for the South Boulder Recreation Center!

This is a HUGE victory for our community and it happened because we showed up strong.

Thank you to every single person who:
💙 Signed our petition
💙 Sent emails to City Council
💙 Attended meetings
💙 Spoke during public comment
💙 Talked to neighbors and spread the word

And a HUGE shout-out to City Council member, TARA WINER for stepping in and advocating for SBRC. We are incredibly grateful to Tara for speaking up and pushing for the specificity our community needed when it mattered most. Thank you, Tara, for listening to South Boulder and standing up for us.

We are now headed to the 2026 ballot with a commitment from the city to rebuild and maintain a lap pool at South Boulder Rec Center. 🏊‍♀️

Dear Community Members,

We need your help by Thursday, August 6th. Your involvement and advocacy have helped bring us to an important milestone: a 2026 ballot measure to secure funding to rebuild the South Boulder Recreation Center (SBRC), along with other city-wide projects. While that's an important step forward, our work is not finished — City Council is reviewing the ballot language now, and the current draft does not protect SBRC's existing amenities. Please attend the August 6 Council meeting in person. Every voice matters in this decision.

Why this matters

The City faces a $400M capital funding gap and plans a 2026 ballot measure to close it, including rebuilding SBRC.
The current draft ballot language does not guarantee SBRC's amenities — the bond could pass but still fund a smaller facility (e.g., a field house with no lap pool).
Reimagine SBRC supports the bond measure if the ballot language is amended to explicitly protect SBRC's core amenities.
Amenities we're asking Council to protect in the ballot language:

25-yard, 6-lane lap pool with diving well
Indoor double-court basketball gym
Outdoor full-size soccer field
Dedicated strength-training and cardio fitness areas
Dedicated group exercise classrooms
4 tennis courts (also lined as 8 pickleball courts)
9-hole outdoor disc golf course
4 outdoor sand volleyball courts

How to help — two ways:

Attend the Council meeting. Speaking isn't required — your presence shows this community is engaged.

Thursday, August 6, 2026, 5:30 PM
1777 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302

Sign up to speak: https://bouldercolorado.formstack.com/forms/sign_up_for_open_comment

Can't attend? Email City Council and ask them to list all current SBRC amenities explicitly in the ballot language.
Thank you for your continued advocacy — together we can protect the amenities that make SBRC a vital resource for families, seniors, and residents of all ages.

City Council Members:

Aaron Brockett, Mayor — [email protected]
Tara Winer, Mayor Pro Tem — [email protected]
Taishya Adams — [email protected]
Matt Benjamin — [email protected]
Rob Kaplan — [email protected]
Tina Marquis — [email protected]
Ryan Schuchard — [email protected]
Nicole Speer — [email protected]

GUEST OPINION

Rec center issues show that Boulder has a vision problem, not a money problem.

I remember standing inside the East Boulder Rec Center during a tour for Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members when I realized something had gone deeply wrong in how we think about public investment.

Staff were explaining a proposal to “flip” the building layout. The idea sounded simple enough on paper. Move the weight room and cardio areas into the space where the pools currently sit. Then build entirely new pools on the other side of the property.

But standing there, listening to the discussion, I kept thinking: This is not a renovation. This is essentially building major new aquatic facilities from scratch while also reconstructing large portions of the existing building.

And yet the conversation felt strangely casual. As if moving pools across a property were simply rearranging furniture in a living room.

That moment crystallized something for me.

Too often, Boulder’s conversations about public facilities begin with isolated building problems and funding gaps instead of a larger vision for the kind of city we are trying to build.

One facility needs repairs. Another needs upgrades. Another needs deferred maintenance addressed. Soon, every project becomes its own expensive crisis. Then comes the scramble for more funding, new taxes, new ballot measures, and more studies.

But rarely do we stop and ask the bigger question first:

What should these places actually be for over the next 50 years?

Because a recreation center is not just a recreation center anymore.

In the years ahead, these facilities may also serve as cooling centers during extreme heat, gathering places during emergencies, support systems for aging residents, neighborhood wellness hubs, and critical public infrastructure during wildfire smoke events or power disruptions.

What concerns me most is not the price tag itself. Boulder residents have repeatedly shown they are willing to invest in public infrastructure when they believe in the vision behind it.

The deeper concern is whether we are thinking about these investments as a connected system.

The North, East and South rec centers are not isolated facilities competing against one another for funding, or at least they should not be. They are part of a larger public infrastructure network serving the entire community.

That distinction matters.

If the South Boulder Rec Center must already undergo major reconstruction, should that project also help address broader aquatics needs across the city? If we are already investing in excavation, labor, materials, permitting and infrastructure, are there opportunities to meet multiple community needs through one coordinated investment instead of several fragmented ones?

Those are not simply budget questions. They are leadership questions.

Too often, public discussions begin after consultants have already developed expensive concepts and after departments have narrowed the conversation around individual facilities. By then, leaders and residents are reacting to proposals rather than helping shape a broader civic vision from the beginning.

But predevelopment — the early stage where cities define goals, evaluate tradeoffs, coordinate across departments and think holistically about long-term community needs — may be the most important phase of all.

That is where resilience begins.

Not with another ballot measure.

Not with another funding mechanism.

And not with one facility at a time.

The next decade will place extraordinary pressure on communities like Boulder. Wildfire risk, smoke events, aging infrastructure, rising insurance costs, housing pressures and climate-related disruptions are no longer distant possibilities.

That reality demands leaders willing to pause, scrutinize major proposals, ask difficult questions, and ensure taxpayer investments truly serve long-term community needs.

Because resilience does not begin with money.

It begins with deciding what kind of city we want to become.

Yvonne Castillo is a member of Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. The views expressed here are her own and do not represent the views of the Board or the City of Boulder.

******** ACTION NEEDED ASAP **********

Dear Reimagine South Boulder Recreation Center Advocates,

On May 14th, City Council will hold a virtual study session to discuss funding allocations and potential ballot measures related to city facilities, including the South Boulder Recreation Center (SBRC).

The newly released City Council study session packet makes clear that Boulder’s three recreation centers are now considered among the city’s 15 highest-priority buildings due to failing conditions and critical community importance. City staff specifically identified recreation centers alongside fire stations and public safety facilities as essential infrastructure needing major investment. The report also states that the city is exploring up to $200 million in bond funding for facilities such as recreation centers and acknowledges that these buildings cannot be adequately addressed without clear prioritization and community-supported funding solutions.

The City’s Facilities Director has also noted that projects of this scale require at least five years from planning to completion. Without securing funding now, our community could face a significant gap in recreational services and programming for years to come.

With nearly 4,000 signatures on our petition, it is clear that the community strongly values the SBRC and wants to see it prioritized.

Please take a few moments before May 14th to email City Council members, the Mayor, and the City Manager using the contact information below. Respectful, personal messages are one of the most effective ways to demonstrate the importance of SBRC to Boulder residents across the city.

Thank you for continuing to show up, speak out, and advocate for this important community resource.

————————————————————————

Below is a template you can copy and personalize:

Dear Members of Boulder City Council,

I am writing on behalf of Reimagine South Boulder regarding the May 14 Study Session materials and the potential 2026 ballot measures related to city facilities and recreation centers.

We respectfully request that Council:

1. Explicitly identify South Boulder Recreation Center in any ballot measure, project list, or implementation framework related to recreation center funding;

2. Provide clarity regarding project prioritization and sequencing before measures are placed before voters;

3. Clearly articulate whether SBRC redevelopment, including a lap pool, is intended to be funded under the proposed measures; and

4. Ensure equitable geographic access to recreation infrastructure for South Boulder residents, many of whom cannot reasonably access East Boulder facilities by bicycle, transit, or other practical means.

South Boulder residents have consistently shown up, participated, volunteered, and supported the City’s funding efforts. What the community is asking for now is clarity and confidence that those efforts will result in meaningful and tangible investment in SBRC — not another round of uncertainty.

Public trust matters. Clear commitments matter. Accountability matters.

We urge Council to provide the specificity necessary for the community to evaluate these measures with confidence.

Sincerely,

(Insert Name)

City Council, Mayor, and City Manager Contacts:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

The South rec center is open and jamming on this snow day! ❄️

City Council Meeting Tonight! 4/16

When: 5:30
Where: 1777 Broadway

Wear Blue in Support of the SBRC Pool

Now is the time to show up and let City council know how much this center means to the community. We want to keep our core amenities!

See the picture below from Boulder Parks & Rec listing the community priorities. Are those OUR community priorities or theirs?

We have done a ton of community engagement and our community wants to keep a pool.

We have to keep showing up for the South Boulder Recreation Center. 🩵

📣 City Council Meeting
🗓 Thursday, April 16
⏰ 5:30 PM
📍 1777 Broadway

🗣 Sign up for open comment by Wednesday (April 15) at noon — make your voice count.
https://bouldercolorado.formstack.com/forms/sign_up_for_open_comment

Last week’s study session made one thing clear: decisions are getting closer, but key questions still aren’t being answered. Council is weighing major funding gaps and South Boulder Rec is at risk of being deprioritized unless we continue to show up strong.

We heard:
• Acknowledgement of a significant funding shortfall

• Ongoing debate about which facilities get investment first

• Community demand for maintaining core amenities- especially the pool

• Concerns raised that trade-offs are being rushed without clear justification especially for a “full rebuild” of East Boulder Rec Center.

Daily Camera Article
“The EBCC is tabbed as the highest priority of the recreation centers and will require a full replacement.”

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=022ca04e-c607-4043-805f-f5ce21cb67f9&appcode=DAI986&eguid=48c7e1cc-e1a7-4cb0-9306-0848eb83a868&pnum=14 #

What we DID NOT hear were clear, confident answers about how South will be prioritized and preserved as a full-service, multigenerational center.

That’s why we keep showing up.

Let’s continue to remind City Council: South Boulder Rec deserves to be prioritized, fully funded, and thoughtfully reimagined, not scaled back.

Wear blue in support of the pool. Bring your voice. Bring a friend and neighbor.

See you there!

The future of South Boulder Rec under review - Daily Camera Boulder city officials say they’re committed to finding ways to fund and eventually replace Boulder’s aging recreation centers. What that looks like is still undetermined.