Tampa leaders approve resolution for $1.83M contract for first phase of Sulphur Springs pool repairs

Tampa leaders approve resolution for $1.83M contract for first phase of Sulphur Springs pool repairs

Tampa City Council approved a resolution a $1.83 million contract to begin repairs at Sulphur Springs Pool. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa City Council approved a resolution for a $1.83 million contract for the first phase of repairs to the Sulphur Springs pool, which has been closed for the past 20 months. 

What we know:

The $1.83 million contract would fund the first phase of the project: investigating the damage and stabilizing a failing seawall that engineers say is letting soil erode into the river. The city warns the cost could go higher once crews get underground.

The pool, a longtime gathering place in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood, has been fenced off since November 2023, when city crews discovered that spring water was leaking into it from below.

Pictured: Sulphur Springs Pool.

What they're saying:

Community advocates have pushed to save the pool for months. Tampa resident Meagan Berkstresser launched a petition that has garnered more than 1,300 signatures.

"When I drive by the pool, it’s sad," she told FOX 13 News last month. "It’s heartbreaking because it’s just kind of forgotten."

Pictured: Sulphur Springs Pool.

Susan Elbare, who leads the "Save the Sulphur Springs Pool Committee," said her group has been meeting regularly with city officials.

"It is our understanding that the pool will be reopened," she said. "There is enough money in the fiscal budget to do the repairs, starting with the seawall."

The other side:

Councilor Lynn Hurtak said the project is moving along, but that the engineering takes time.

"This $1.8 million goes to fix the sea wall and to do some of the injections, they call it mortar, to go under the pool to help stabilize it to see where we are," Hurtak said. "So, that's where this is going for. This will get started, and we will see where we are after that, but it is absolutely moving along."