Calvert County paid for new plaster in the Hall Aquatic Center’s competition pool in 2024. Two years later, the county says, it has failed, and the pool will stay closed until December.
The Edward T. Hall Aquatic Center in Prince Frederick is now scheduled to reopen Dec. 1, the county announced Sept. 29, both in a news release and in an update read at the opening of that day’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. Contractors identified “significant failures” in the plaster of the competition pool, which was installed in 2024 and received minor repairs in 2025, according to the release from the Department of Parks & Recreation. The repairs have to be finished before the facility can reopen.
The original plaster contractor declined the county’s request to correct the deficiencies, according to the county’s project page, and the county said at the meeting that it is pursuing available remedies. The county did not name that contractor. It hired another company instead. The repair and replastering work was bid separately as RFP 2027-002, Edward T. Hall Aquatic Center Competition Pool Renewal. Bids were received by Sept. 8, and the contract went to Hot Tubs, Inc. Work was expected to begin as early as the first week of October.
The county has not said what the repair costs. It says the money comes from the project’s contingency fund, so the overall budget stays at $9,586,500. The county says no new or additional taxes are being used.
A closure already in progress
The center closed in May for a full replacement of the roof and all heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, work the county has said was necessary because the old systems had reached the end of their service life. That work is “progressing as planned and remains on track for completion by Oct. 31,” the county says. The Dec. 1 date is driven by the plaster repair. The county said the project page’s original plan was a roughly six-month closure with a November reopening, which made the center unavailable for about seven months.
The project page says a thorough inspection of the competition pool was completed in May 2026, before the roof and HVAC work started, and that the inspection identified the plaster failures. The release says contractors identified them “during the renovation.” The county has not explained the difference or whether the problem was known before work began.
The main renovation contract is a firm fixed price with liquidated damages of $500 a day for contractor delays beyond the agreed schedule, according to the county.
Who is affected
The center is the county’s indoor, year-round aquatic facility; the county also runs two seasonal outdoor pools, at Cove Point Park in Lusby and Kings Landing in Huntingtown. The county says the added repair “may affect” high school swim practices and meets normally held at Hall. Parks & Recreation, the Board of Education and the Calvert County Public Schools athletics office are assessing the impact and looking for alternate arrangements, and the school system will contact families and student-athletes directly once details are set. High school swimming is a winter sport in Maryland.
The Calvert Aquatics Club is being accommodated at outdoor pools “as much as possible,” with practice available through Oct. 4, weather permitting. County-run swim lessons and fitness classes continue “where space allows.” Annual pass holders can have unused time added back after reopening or request a prorated refund.
The county puts the cost of an unplanned closure at roughly $21,000 a week in lost revenue and programming disruption. It says it chose a planned closure to avoid that, and that doing the plaster work now avoids a separate future closure.
What the county has not said
Staff did not give the repair cost, name the original contractor, say what remedies the county is pursuing, or say how long the replastering will take. They also did not say whether the plaster carried a warranty.
The commissioners next meet Oct. 20.
