Monroe Street Pool Is Back, and Carlsbad's Two City Pools Now Run on One Pass

Monroe Street Pool reopened at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, after about 20 months of reconstruction. It is bigger and shadier, and the new parking lot is larger. For people who already swim in Carlsbad, though, the change that matters most is the pass. The city's reopening announcement says one membership now covers both Monroe Street Pool and the Alga Norte Aquatic Center. Carlsbad used to sell a separate pass for each pool.

So the pool on Monroe Street has a different job now. It is the north end of one city swim system, and the 56-meter pool at Alga Norte is the south end. Each one was built for a different kind of swim, and with one pass you can use both.

One membership, matching clocks, staggered maintenance

The two pools now keep the same public hours. Each one closes for a weekly maintenance window, and the windows never fall on the same day.

On any weekday, one of the two pools is open during the other's maintenance hour. A late-morning swimmer who usually uses Monroe can go to Alga Norte on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the pass works at both doors. Under the old setup, that would have meant buying a second pass or skipping the swim.

The switch takes very little effort. The city says anyone who has a monthly or quarterly Alga Norte membership doesn't need to do anything to start using Monroe. Former Monroe passholders can buy the new combined pass online or at the front desk. Drop-in day passes are sold in person only.

Sized for the block it sits on

The rebuilt Monroe pool is 33 meters long. The old one was 25 meters. That sizing was a deliberate choice, and it was debated in public.

When the City Council approved the plans in September 2024, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that some of the pool's most frequent users wanted 50 meters. One of them was Spencer Rodman, a swim and water polo coach at Carlsbad High School. The school is next door and is one of the pool's biggest users. Parks and Recreation Director Kyle Lancaster told the council that a bigger pool would take space from parking and solar panels. He said it would also add noise and evening light for nearby homes, push the project back at least a year, and cost more to run. The paper reported that the 33-meter design alone was expected to add about $370,000 a year in operating costs. Mayor Keith Blackburn called what the city was getting "pretty darn good."

The finished building shows that its neighbors were part of the design. According to the city, the frontage along Monroe Street is fully enclosed to cut noise for the surrounding neighborhood. Solar improvements are part of the project. Inside are new locker rooms and family restrooms, an expanded deck with lockers and outdoor showers, and more shade and bleacher seating.

The size decision makes more sense with Alga Norte in the picture. Carlsbad already had a long-course pool when the Monroe plans were drawn. Alga Norte opened in 2014 with its 56-meter competition pool. With one membership, a swimmer who wants long-course lengths drives south, and Monroe stays a neighborhood pool. The combined pass is what lets a 33-meter Monroe work for the whole city.

The money also landed under the cap. In November 2022, Carlsbad voters authorized up to $24 million for the reconstruction and expansion, and with inflation adjustments that cap could have reached nearly $27 million. The city reports the finished project came in at about $21 million. The Coast News covered the Oct. 29 ribbon-cutting, where City Manager Geoff Patnoe described the pool as a place for people of all ages to swim, learn and stay active.

Weekday afternoons are shared with Carlsbad High

Monroe sits next to Carlsbad High School, and the city's lane calendars show what that means day to day. The Monroe Street Pool calendar for Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026 lays out lanes 1 through 15 and has these blocks:

1. Maintenance hour, facility closed, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
2. CHS, 3:45 to 7 p.m.
3. Carlsbad Water Polo, 7 to 9 p.m., after public hours end.

On that date, the high school booking takes up the last three hours or so of the public day. The calendar doesn't show how many of the 15 lanes it uses. Morning and midday hours are where a lap swimmer has the most room, and the extra lanes from the expansion are what let the city fit school use and public use into the same afternoon. The city posts Monroe calendars for November and December 2026, plus separate calendars for Alga Norte's competition and instructional pools. The pass covers both pools, so the swimmer who gains most from the new system is the one who checks both calendars before choosing a pool for the afternoon.

The two pools were already linked before this fall. While Monroe was under construction, the city kept its swim programs running at Alga Norte, according to The Coast News. The single pass makes that arrangement permanent and puts it in writing.

What a swim costs now

The city's aquatic fee sheet lists these base rates. Every membership on it works at both pools.

• Drop-in: $5 for adults, $3 for youth, $2 for spectators
• Aquatic fitness class or Masters drop-in: $7
• Individual membership: $40 a month or $116 a quarter
• Family membership: $62 a month or $174 a quarter
• Additional member: $20 a month or $44 a quarter
• Masters Swim: $70 a month or $196 a quarter, or a $45 monthly or $135 quarterly add-on
• Lane rental: $24, or $20 for nonprofits

Carlsbad residents get 10% off memberships and lane rentals. The $40 individual rate used to cover one pool and now covers two. For a family that splits time between a north Carlsbad pool near home and Alga Norte for lessons or long-course swimming, that's the clearest gain from the merger. The city's aquatics page has details on renewals and the combined pass.

The first weeks run into the holiday calendar

Monroe's first full week back included a full closure, and the next seven weeks have more. The city's 2026 Parks & Recreation holiday schedule applies to both aquatic centers.

The shared pass doesn't help on these days. Monroe and Alga Norte both close on holidays, so the backup pool is closed too. Thanksgiving week is the biggest example. Nov. 25 ends early, and the pools stay closed through Nov. 26 and 27 before weekend hours return Saturday. Thursday, Dec. 24 and Thursday, Dec. 31 also fall on Monroe's maintenance days, so the morning has a closed hour and the afternoon ends at 2 p.m.

Before the reopening, The North County Chronicle reported that the final checklist included installing solar thermal panels for the pool's heating system, gas work coordinated with SDG&E, and inspections by the county's public health department. The city also said some work might continue in limited areas after reopening without affecting public use. A crew working off to one side of the deck this month is part of that plan and doesn't mean the pool is closed.

A rebuilt pool on Monroe Street changes daily routines across a whole part of north Carlsbad, from the early lap swimmers to the families heading over after school. That kind of everyday detail is what I'm paying attention to when I help people buy and sell homes here. If you'd like to talk about what's changing near you in Carlsbad, reach out to Jeff Underdahl. Let's Connect.