Pool season closes at the James Lemos Swim Center at the end of September, but when swimmers return in the spring, they could be seeing some major changes at their beloved pool. The Historic Preservation Review Commission unanimously voted to approve a design review for a couple of aquatic center upgrades at Thursday’s meeting.

The city is proposing to make a few alterations to the aquatic facility, including replacing areas of the deck surrounding the dive pool, installing a double glass sliding door in the administration building and implementing three shade structures in the deck area between the dive and lap pools.

Rick Knight, a project manager with the Parks & Community Services department, dove into further detail on the project before the commissioners voted. According to Knight, 1,500 square feet of concrete deck will be replaced, some of which was put in place when the pool opened in 1947. The double glass sliding door, he said, is going to be put in place to give lifeguards “a better line of sight.”

“The state requires we have more guards on deck,” he said. “This way, basically, it’s gonna be a sliding glass area wall where the guards that are actually there can get a little more clear line of sight.”

Knight also said the city is waiting on funding for the shade structures.

“We don’t have enough money to do those,” he said. “If we can move some budgetary items from one fund to another, I’m just waiting for finances and then those shade structures can be put in.”

Additionally, Knight said there will be a concurrent project consisting of a replastering of the Olympic pool.

“We’re closing a month early at the end of September,” Knight said. “Hopefully, we can get all this work complete before we reopen in February.”

Without any additional discussion, all seven commissioners voted to approve the design review for the project.

In other matters, Commissioner Toni Haughey announced that the Southern Pacific Railroad depot had been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Benicia Historical Society member David Hyde had drafted the nomination.

The next HPRC meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept. 28.

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