Belen High School outdoor pool to get $2.4 million rehabilitation

BELEN — A unanimous vote last month was the first step to rehabilitate a local outdoor swimming pool.

At the Aug. 12 Belen Consolidated Schools Board of Education meeting, board members voted 5-0 to approve $2,404,100 to begin rehab on the outdoor pool at Belen High School. The vote was the outcome of a workshop held by the board in March, which drew a standing-room-only crowd, to review an assessment of the facility.

The December 2024 assessment laid out two different possibilities for repairs to extend the life of the outdoor pool and pool house — one coming in at about $1.9 million and the other around $2.4 million, with the more expensive option, hopefully, keeping the facility going for another 20 years and the less expensive option about 10-plus years.

During an interview following the Aug. 12 meeting, BCS Superintendent Lawrence Sanchez said while the $2.4 million does include a 5 percent markup due to increasing construction costs, the total cost of the project would most likely be closer to $3 million.

“There are always things you don’t know about until you start. There’s always going to be surprises,” Sanchez said. “The biggest part of the project will be the pool itself. My expectation is they will take it down to bare bones and then build it back up with modern materials.”

The current 10-lane outdoor pool opened in 1978 and is about 7,830 square feet. The facility also includes a 4,500 square foot pool house, which houses changing rooms, restrooms, shower areas, an office, storage rooms and mechanical space.

The pool house will also undergo extensive renovations, including new bathrooms, showers and HVAC system.

“This renovation will make sure everything is ADA compliant and modern,” Sanchez said. “It will include things like emergency lighting, carbon monoxide sensors, exhaust fans with humidity controls, upgrades to the pool equipment room and chemical storage area. A lot of this, people aren’t going to see but it’s for safety.”

The district is footing 100 percent of the bill, something Sanchez said would never have been recommended to the board unless there would be no impact to the classroom.

“Like I said at the board meeting, if we couldn’t do this without impacting classrooms, we wouldn’t do it, no matter how unpopular that decision would be,” he said.

The superintendent anticipates criticism about the project, with people questioning why the money wasn’t being used for something like raises for teachers.

“I understand that. We’d all like a raise. If we take that same $2 million and five pay increases, then we need to be able to maintain that recurring cost year after year. This is a one-time cost,” Sanchez said. “This is a long-term investment that should keep the pool in good shape for the next 20 to 30 years. At that point, the superintendent can determine if they can afford it. It will be the kids using the pool now that will be part of the community and say, ‘Do we need it or not?’”

While Sanchez hopes to see the renovations begin in the spring of 2026, there are still hurdles and hoops to clear before work can begin. Even though the district is self-funding the project and not relying on state funding, the Public Education Department needs to approve the use of the district’s cash balance for the project, the superintendent said. If that happens, the Public School Finance Authority still has to approve the plans.

“Once PSFA approves the plans, then they go to the state construction industry division for permitting,” Sanchez said.

Even before that, the district has to create and release a request for proposal to solicit companies that can do the work. The RFP has to be open for 45 days before a committee evaluates and scores the proposals.

Once a contractor is selected, the start of the work may hinge on when that contractor has availability, the superintendent said.

“My understanding is there are very few contractors in the state of New Mexico who put in commercial pools, so their availability will determine some of this,” he said. “We could get interest from out-of-state companies, but is it worth enough to them to travel?”

“There may be aspects (of procurement) we can expedite, but we can’t break procurement law. As a public entity, we have rules we have to follow that private entities probably don’t have to in order to erect or construct or remodel something,” Sanchez said. “For instance, we have to have architectural plans done first.”

If everything goes smoothly, Sanchez said he’s optimistically envisioning the project beginning in early March, 2026.

“Depending on what they run into, it could be a four to six month project and maybe we can open for the end of the (2026) season, but it’s very possible we won’t be open until 2027,” he said. “In the long term, this is great news, but the community may have to be gracious and recognize in order to bring this community asset up to speed and provide longevity, it may mean we don’t have it for the short term.”

Sanchez did say he didn’t see any reason the indoor natatorium wouldn’t be available for use during the renovations.

Currently, the natatorium and outdoor pool at BHS is the only publicly-available swimming facility in the county. In early 2019, Los Lunas Schools permanently closed its outdoor pool and later demolished the facility. That pool was built in 1983 and the district said it was too costly to repair.

In late 2023, the village of Los Lunas began planning for an aquatic center at Daniel Fernandez Memorial Park, estimated to cost $20 million or more.