The South County community is likely aware of the Kennedy Aquatic Center’s closure for the 2026 summer season following an announcement by St. Louis County Executive Sam Page on Feb. 11 in which various county service reductions were announced.
Talks of closing the Kennedy Aquatic Center, however, began months ago, at the close of the 2025 swimming season. During the final two weeks of that season, an excessive amount of mud in the filter system was noticed by staff, who later determined that a broken underground water return line was the cause. Due to the extensive restoration needed, it was discreetly discussed that it would not be fiscally responsible to open the pool, though a formal announcement was delayed “until the 2026 budget was approved by the council, which confirmed that Parks would not have the necessary funds to complete critical repairs or adequately staff Kennedy” per Brian Schaffer, the county’s Director of Parks and Recreation.
“The repairs at the pool would exceed $100,000. We anticipate it would be more than that if workers began to replace a broken underground water return that has been the source of problems for years,” Doug Moore, the county’s chief communications officer, said. “The leak has likely created a large void behind the pool wall and under the deck. The pool has been leaking for years, losing four to six inches of water overnight if the autofill is not left on. There are multiple cracks in the aluminum shell, and the pool has shifted to one side.”
According to Moore, St. Louis County Parks and Recreation is already working with Maryland Height-based architecture firm KAI Enterprises to design a major renovation of the entire facility. This remodel would replace the current 50-year-old pool with a “new destination water playground” featuring slides, fountains, dump buckets and interactive play features, as well as a new lap pool and shade structures. Additional improvements to the entire Kennedy Recreation Complex — including a new picnic shelter, new tennis and pickleball courts, renovated and expanded locker rooms, larger community rooms, a more functional entrance and lobby and accessible restrooms from the outside of the complex for residents using the outdoor amenities (such as the playground, picnic shelter and courts) — would also be supported by this update. Its estimated price tag? Approximately $13,250,000.
“Our design has been completed, but no funds are available to proceed with the renovations,” Moore said.
It is unclear what will become of the Kennedy Aquatic Center, as far as how long it will be shuttered and if it will ever reopen, though it should be noted that the rest of the Kennedy Recreation Complex will remain in operation with none of its hours changed.
In the meantime, those wanting to soak up the summer sun poolside come Memorial Day can visit South County’s other county-run pool, the Pavilion at Lemay in Jefferson Barracks Park.
Cuts to services across the county are due to the budget that the County Council passed in December in which $48 million was cut from Page’s proposed budget. Page’s budget, however, included a $81 million deficit; he proposed using the NFL Rams relocation settlement funds to “bridge the gap for a year” before putting an Internet sales tax ballot question in front of voters. Per Page, the Internet sales tax, also known as a use tax, would bring the county between $45 million and $75 million, closing “the gap between revenues and expenditures,” though the council has not agreed to put the question in front of voters, citing a lack of interest in additional taxes from constituents.
Additional service cuts impacting the South County area include the newly reduced in-person hours at the South County Government Center, 4554 Lemay Ferry Road. The office will now close to the public at 3:30 p.m. as opposed to 4:30 p.m., though the opening time of 8 a.m. will remain. Further county service reductions can be expected in the coming weeks.
“The reductions that are coming will come from recommendations of our department directors in conversations about how to best utilize the limited resources that we have,” Page said.
