Rossmoor’s only indoor pool should reopen in early January

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Monday, December 2 (2:00 p.m.): Cathy Robinson-Walker said that, as a lap swimmer, she’s been missing her workouts at the Tice Creek Fitness Center pool. So, she was glad to hear that work to replace the roof panels there is on time.

“It is a very big loss to many of us,” said Robinson-Walker, a member of the GRF Aquatics and Fitness Advisory Committee, said at the committee’s Nov. 14 meeting. “I’m glad it’s on schedule.”

Ann Mottola, GRF’s director of community services, said the roof panel work is on track to wrap up the first week of January – a bit of good news for a project that has seen more than its share of delays.

Some panels on the roof are equipped with motors that open and close them. Since early 2023, one of the panels has been stuck open. The repair work was originally to have started in August 2023, but supply chain issues and delays in obtaining permits from the city of Walnut Creek extended that timeline by more than a year.

The outdoor pools at Hillside and Dollar, which usually close on Dec. 1 for the winter, will remain open until the Tice roof panel work is done.

The Tice pool is scheduled to see two significant capital projects in 2025 – resurfacing of the bottom of the pool, and replacement of the “air handler” control at Tice. The air handler regulates the circulation and temperature of Tice’s indoor air.

While Mottola said the air handler work will not prompt a pool shutdown, the resurfacing project will require such a closure. The original plan was to do the roof panel work and the resurfacing work at the same time, resulting in only one Tice pool closure. But with all the roof panel delays, and no date set for the resurfacing work – the original vendor’s contract was terminated after a permit snafu – there will be a separate closure when the resurfacing work is scheduled.

Robinson said she understood the situation, but isn’t necessarily happy about it.

“Another closure is an issue and a concern for me,” she said.

Committee members on Nov. 14 also talked about the two newly hired Tice Creek Fitness Center fitness trainers, Terry Hummell and Nora Pallotta. Committee member Mary Lou Thompson said the new trainers are “delightful,” and that she welcomes the new classes they’ve brought with them.

Committee chairman Barry Devine said he hopes the Fitness Center can offer more classes to attract “mobility-limited” residents to the gym who may otherwise be reticent about coming. The existing such classes, he said, are very popular.

Mottola said that, limited mobility or not, they’re looking make the Fitness Center a resource enjoyed by more residents.

“We are trying to draw people aren’t current (Fitness Center) users,” she said.