In 1922, the water at Spruce and 21st streets cost its owner almost nothing to heat. The Hygienic Ice and Coal Company used warm water left over from making ice at its plant next door to fill an enclosed swimming pool.
By 2024, gas and electricity for the same pool ran $32,900 a year. In 2019 the bill was about $9,600.
The pool has been on Spruce Street for more than a century, and in all that time it has depended on money from somewhere else. First it was a byproduct of the ice business. Later it was a subsidy from the rest of Boulder's Parks and Recreation system. On Oct. 15, City Council passed a 2027 budget that covers Spruce for one more summer with one-time money. No ongoing line item replaces it after that.
Heat From the Ice Plant Next Door
The ice plant's spare heat was the reason the pool existed. In Boulder Reporting Lab's September history of the site, the pool appears as a spinoff of the ice business, and its ownership has changed hands since then.
- 1922: Hygienic Ice and Coal Company builds an enclosed pool at Spruce and 21st, heated with warm water from ice production.
- 1923: The Hygienic Swimming Pool opens. Photographs held by the Carnegie Library for Local History show children taking swimming lessons there, including classes sponsored by the Boulder School Board.
- 1950: The City of Boulder buys the pool.
- 1963: The city demolishes the enclosed building and reopens the site as the outdoor Spruce Pool.
- 2023: Spruce reopens, and city staff say its operating costs have exceeded its revenue every year since.
When the city took the pool over in 1950, the free heat stayed behind with the ice plant. Every year since, the pool's costs have been paid out of a public budget.
Where the Subsidy Comes From Now
City staff put the 2024 numbers this way: Spruce cost about $203,000 to operate, brought in roughly $120,000 in revenue, and recorded about 15,000 visits. The city calls the $83,000 difference a "subsidy," and it comes out of the rest of the Parks and Recreation system.
Divided per swim, those 2024 figures look like this:
| 2024 figure | Total | Per visit, approximate |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cost | $203,000 | $13.53 |
| Revenue | $120,000 | $8.00 |
| Gap covered by Parks and Recreation | $83,000 | $5.53 |
| Gas and electricity | $32,900 | $2.19 |
Energy alone went up by about $23,300 between 2019 and 2024, which equals more than a quarter of the 2024 gap. City staff say staffing and pool chemicals also cost more now.
The usual fix would be higher admission prices, but Scott Schuttenberg, deputy director of Boulder Parks and Recreation, told Boulder Reporting Lab that this isn't workable because Boulder's fees are already at the higher end of the market. "It is a balancing act," he said. Charge too much and fewer people come, which cuts revenue.
The city has already trimmed hours. In 2025, Spruce closed on Aug. 17 instead of its usual Labor Day date, and the city cited service reductions tied to its financial position and a hiring freeze. The city's fee page lists its peak-season outdoor pool membership as running from May 23 through Sept. 7.
Spruce is a small pool, and city staff point to the small numbers. It logged about 15,000 visits in 2024. Scott Carpenter Pool logged 59,000. Longtime swimmers described the difference to Boulder Reporting Lab in other terms. To them, Scott Carpenter is busier and more like a water park, with harder parking, while Spruce is quieter, draws fewer competitive swimmers, and leaves more room for older adults and residents with mobility limitations.
What October's Votes Settled
The money question came to a head in a span of 17 days.
On Sept. 28, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted 5-2 against recommending the department's proposed 2027 budget. Boulder Reporting Lab reported that board chair Andrew Bernstein called it the first time since he joined in 2023 that the board had declined to recommend the budget. He named Spruce as a core objection. "The city manager's recommended budget removes Spruce from the operations budget for 2027, which means that if a solution is not found for 2028, the pool will not operate," he said.
Board member Kyra Siegel voted yes while sharing concerns about the service cuts. She told the outlet she supported the budget because staff had found money for Spruce in 2027, and she hoped a solution would follow for 2028. In the same week, Councilmember Tina Marquis wrote in a hotline post that she was concerned Spruce had been flagged for possible closure despite its small operating cost next to a city budget of roughly $550 million.
The board's vote was advisory. On Oct. 15, council passed the $552.6 million budget 7-1. The city is closing a $6.3 million General Fund gap, and Spruce's share of the answer is about $134,000 in one-time money for the 2027 season. Staff estimate the pool would need about $140,000 to run in 2028.
Mayor Aaron Brockett, who was on the Nov. 3 ballot for reelection, spoke after the public hearing earlier in October. As quoted by Boulder Reporting Lab, he said: "One-time funding does not mean that there's an intention to close it in 2028." He added that if he were back at the dais next year, he would work with colleagues to find additional funding so the pool stays open.
So the 2027 season is funded. Spruce no longer has a line in the ongoing operations budget, and finding money for 2028 is now a job for next year's council.
Why the Bond Was Never the Answer
The $400 million Recreation and Safety Bond on the Nov. 3 ballot got most of this fall's attention. Spruce's problem is a different kind of cost. The bond would be repaid through higher property taxes and pay for major capital projects, and Spruce isn't on the city's list for bond money. Schuttenberg said the measure "does not address operational or ongoing dollars." Lifeguard wages, utilities and pool chemicals are exactly the costs Spruce can't cover.
So the bond result, whatever it turns out to be, doesn't settle the pool's 2028 season. According to Boulder Reporting Lab, city officials say keeping Spruce open past 2027 without new money would mean cutting other Parks and Recreation services. The department has said its priorities are access for lower-income residents, older adults on fixed incomes, people with disabilities and children, along with basic park maintenance.
Schuttenberg also said the city has no plans to sell the property. He said he hopes the city will discuss possible new funding sources next year.
Who Is Looking for the Next Source
If the ice plant once covered the pool and the Parks system covers it now, the next question is who covers it in 2028. Several groups have proposals.
Lynn Stein has been swimming at Spruce for more than 30 years. Boulder Reporting Lab reported that she has been rallying other swimmers, and that advocates have been attending city meetings and talking with Parks and Recreation staff about raising revenue, raising money independently and recruiting more lifeguards. "If the pool sits unused for a year, it's likely to be very hard to reopen," Stein told the outlet.
A volunteer coalition website, Save Spruce Pool, lists Save Spruce Pool, Boulder Aquatic Masters, and neighbors on Whittier and Spruce Street as the groups behind it. Its ideas for earning money include renting lanes to Boulder Aquatic Masters and youth teams, a Friends of Spruce fund through the PLAY Boulder Foundation, and a dedicated Spruce season pass. The site presents these as proposals.
In a September guest opinion in the Daily Camera, Boulder swimmer Catherine Greener suggested other ways to run the pool, including a cooperative, a social enterprise or a public-private partnership.
Each idea is a way to find the pool a new source of outside money, the role the Hygienic Ice and Coal Company's spare heat played in 1923. The city doesn't have to decide anything until its 2028 budget work next year, and staff put the amount needed at about $140,000. Next summer, the outdoor pool at Spruce and 21st opens on money that has already been approved.
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