Jersey Village community pool to close following 2nd failed bond – Houston Public Media

Jersey Village residents rejected a second bond proposal on Tuesday meant to build a new community pool. The current facility, deemed outdated by the city, will be closed.

Just over 57% of Jersey Village voters were against the $10,100,000 bond in this year's election. Last year, in November, 59% of voters stuck down a $19 million bond meant to build a new pool and a surrounding park. According to the city, Clark Henry Pool is approximately 50 years old and voters were notified that the current facility would be closing next year whether or not the bond passed.

Jersey Village Mayor Bobby Warren said the current pool had experienced multiple issues and was reaching the end of its lifespan. The bond on this year's ballot would've funded a new pool complex.

"Those issues became much more prominent over the last year to 18 months so we knew that we could either try to put a Band-Aid on the problem by spending money, [and] if we're lucky, get a few more years down the road," he said. "We really felt like it made more financial sense to go ahead and build a new facility,"

In between the first and second bond attempts, Warren said the city held public information events to gauge residents' opinions and found that most were concerned with the amount of money the first bond called for.

"Some people preferred a lower cost option, such as a facility that looks much more like what we currently have," he said. "Other people really wanted the city to take advantage of the opportunity where if we're going to build a new facility, we might as well look at improving it [and] adding some new features."

Warren said one of the reasons he believes the bond failed is because the election took place during a presidential election, which often has a much higher turnout.

"I think our turnout for this election, for Jersey Village, was close to 80%," he said. "Anytime you have a huge election, like a presidential election, I think that local issues on the ballot can sometimes get a little bit skewed because you may have voters coming in and voting that normally are not as engaged on those local issues as someone who regularly votes in municipal [elections]."

The next steps are currently unclear, but Warren said the city council will be discussing their options.

"I think for sure if we were going to have a bond proposal I would like to see it on the main ballot during our normal municipal election cycle," he said. "I really want to ensure that we have folks who are routinely engaged in city matters ... and not someone who happens to live in the city but just happened to be voting ... without knowing for sure what all the issues were."