The Florida Department of Health has approved a variance for the pool’s new, deeper design, allowing construction to go forward.
It’s a bright, sunny day in Miami. Toddlers are splashing around in swimsuits and floaties inside a newly-constructed play structure at Elizabeth Virrick Park’s pool. As parents sit nearby keeping a close eye, a water polo team is putting on headgear to practice for their upcoming game in the pool’s deep-end.
West Grove residents of all ages are happy – they can finally beat Miami’s scorching heat by cooling off in the community’s new pool.
This is the future that West Grove residents have been looking forward to since June 2022 when construction began on Virrick Park’s new pool.
But that future nearly slipped away when the City of Miami’s proposed design for the pool – at a maximum depth of 5 feet 3 inches – fell flat with community residents.
Residents protested and the city relented, with Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo’s support, by delivering a new design for a deeper pool, one that would accommodate toddlers and water polo teams, at an added cost of $3.2 million.
Now, that future is a step closer after a Florida Department of Health review board granted a variance for the new pool design, allowing construction to go forward.
“For the community, this would have been another broken promise,” Pardo told the Spotlight this week. “I do know that the community felt that they were barely heard, that they were barely seen. We were able to achieve the variance of the pool.”
Pardo had shared the city’s new, deeper pool design with the community on May 29 with a note of caution. The city needed the state Department of Health Advisory Review Board to grant a variance for the new design. The approval came on September 11.
To secure approval, pool designers needed to add some safety measures – extra steps going into the pool’s deep end and additional handrails.
Pardo’s office says the revisions will not interfere with the pool’s design, which includes Bahamian art elements to showcase the neighborhood’s history as a pioneer community of Bahamian immigrants.
Residents can also expect the pool to stay on schedule. Javier Gonzalez, District 2’s Grove liaison, said the pool’s construction should be completed by November 2025, as previously promised.
The pool will reach a depth of 7 feet 10 inches so residents can enjoy a wide variety of aquatic activities.
“Because of the steps we’re still able to fit, we can go all the way to 7 feet 10 inches,” Pardo said. “Not only does it make it accessible to water polo, but it also makes it perfectly accessible for competitive swimming. It enhances the number of programs that (will be) available at Virrick Pool.”
The old Virrick Park pool opened in 1970 and was treasured by neighborhood families. The pool closed in 2020 due to deterioration.
Construction of the new pool began in June 2022. Residents demanded a new design and a deeper pool, to accommodate competitive swimming and water polo, and the divide over depth led a stalemate.
Pardo is the third District 2 commissioner to deal with the discrepancy between neighborhood expectations and the city’s original design.
“We took a bad situation and turned it into a celebration,” Pardo said. “The pool will tell people that there are people in the office and we’re here to deliver.”
