COVID may have claimed another victim: long-range plans to create a public pool, a new YMCA building, and other ancillary improvements around Pacific Beach Middle School.

In April 2018, the Y and San Diego Unified School District celebrated the first phase of a shared venture, with both organizations holding a ribbon-tying ceremony to debut a new joint-occupancy turf field at PBMS. Surrounded by a track and striped for multiple sports, the field has been used since by soccer, field hockey, and girls and boys lacrosse. Paddle tennis courts were also added.

But four years later, the planned multi-phase project has at least been delayed – and likely shelved – following the temporary closure of YMCAs region-wide for three months or more due to COVID.

The ongoing pandemic caused the YMCA of PB to close, and the resultant loss of membership at the facility has necessitated previous expansion plans there to be significantly downsized.
“We lost 65% of members due to COVID countywide at our 17 YMCAs, four of which, including PB, are still not open,” said Vince Glorioso, executive director at YMCA of San Diego County. “COVID forced us to shut down the operation that had existed there (PB) before. We are just now reaching out to re-engage volunteers to look at how best we can serve the community’s needs by reactivating that site, investing in it.”

Future phases of the YMCA-SDUSD partnership were to include construction of a new two-story, 26-classroom building; improvements to existing buildings; relocation of school administration offices, renovation of the food service area, and three new classroom/innovation spaces in the library media center; and campus-wide upgrades to security, fire alarm, data and communication infrastructure. A public pool was also planned.

The YMCA’s vision, at that time, was to expand its presence in beach and bay communities by building a state-of-the-art YMCA fitness center to provide year-round care for local youth on the PBMS campus at the corner of Ingraham and Felspar.

But the pandemic has forced a serious reassessment of what can realistically be done to improve the PBMS campus site now given the ongoing pandemic and current available financial resources.

“The focus right now is on finding a new model, a sustainable plan, that will work to build a pool specifically, with athletic facilities along with it,” Glorioso said. “That’s still the plan, long-range, to build a new permanent building. But right now we’re going back to the highest priority, which was to start with a pool, and then build the plan around that.”

The YMCA of PB is “still coming out of COVID and is not all the way back to pre-COVID membership levels,” noted Steve Pruett, a YMCA volunteer who is also a Pacific Beach community planner. “As membership grows again, we’ll continue to offer more programs.

“But the Y right now is determining what’s going to be the future. Can it be with a self-sustaining new facility? If the answer is yes, we need to re-energize that project. If the answer is no, or we don’t know, that’s going to make it more difficult to move it forward at this point.”

Pruett characterized previous Y expansion plans in PB as “not completely dead,” but added, “it does need a lot of work just determining what the right thing to do is.”

Pruett said that the PBMS campus site where expanded YMCA facilities are planned is too valuable to leave fallow.

“That specific location is right in the heart of PB,” he said. “It’s next to the PB Rec Center, which is being revitalized, and the softball fields and the middle school, all of which serve the community. That’s why the Y was attracted to it.”

Added Pruett, “The Y focuses on access and equity for all people to wellness. It provides a hub for the community. But it (redevelopment) has to make sense from a financial standpoint. It needs to be self-sustaining on an ongoing basis. It also has to have the involvement of all the stakeholders and the City. Figuring out what the community needs for its Y, it’s a bit complicated to do it right.”