Where does a county with five high school swim teams practice in January when its only year-round public pool has no cover? For the 2026–27 winter, the inflatable air structure that has enclosed Kedron's pool in past cold seasons will not go up. The city's recreation registration notice from September 14 says swim lessons at Kedron are paused starting in October 2026 as a result.
The missing bubble shows how much of the county's swimming has run through a single building at 202 Fieldhouse Drive. It also shows how few other places can take that demand while the pool is rebuilt.
What the missing bubble changes this fall
The city's notice explains it plainly. The water at Kedron is heated. Without the air structure, though, "the facility temperature will become increasingly cold as the winter months progress," so lessons are off for the comfort and safety of swimmers. The plan is to bring lessons back at Kedron once the weather warms. If renovation keeps Kedron closed, lessons move to Glenloch for summer 2027.
The bubble isn't coming back in any future winter either. In April, The Citizen reported Mayor Kim Learnard's words: "The Kedron bubble has seen its final days. It's gone and it's not coming back." The same report quoted the city manager's office saying the pool, then nearly 30 years old, needed substantial work to its concrete, tile, piping and electrical systems. The office also said permanent closure was not under consideration.
We could not confirm open swim hours for this fall and winter from the city's site. The most recent posted schedule covers the summer season only. Swimmers should check the city's Open Swim Times and Fees page before heading over.
One pool, carrying a whole county's schedule
The bubble mattered because of who was swimming under it. At the city's October 7 open house, Learnard told The Trail, McIntosh High School's student newspaper, "I think it's important to remember this is the only public pool facility to serve the whole county. We serve all five high schools and we have tremendous demand on this pool."
Here's who shares that water across the year, according to local reporting:
- High school teams. McIntosh practices at Kedron, and Starr's Mill and other district teams use it too. Michelle A. Johnson, the city's assistant director of recreation and special events, told The Trail that schools book time through the Fayette County Board of Education and pay a monthly fee.
- Club swimmers. Chattahoochee Gold is a competitive team. Its head coach and owner, Mike Wardwell, told The Trail the construction "will be challenging for a year, but in the long run, I think it will be an improvement."
- Water aerobics. In a September profile, The Citizen reported that three instructors and three substitutes lead classes for about 75 to 80 participants. The lineup includes an Arthritis Foundation class at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a higher-intensity class at 10 a.m., and 55+ classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Instructor Beverly Conley's high-intensity class started with four participants. Today it fills all 25 spots and often has a waiting list.
- Lesson families. These are the kids now waiting for warmer weather or for Glenloch next summer.
Each group needs time in the water, and many of their seasons fall in the cold months. Without a cover, Kedron can't serve them all through the winter. The Citizen's April report described Glenloch, Peachtree City's only other public option, as a smaller seasonal pool, so it can't absorb that winter demand.
What the city has actually decided, in order
There's been plenty of talk about Kedron this year, and much of it has gotten ahead of the facts. Here's the sequence as reported:
- April 17: The city manager's office sends a letter saying permanent closure is not under consideration. It puts the full project at about 12 months and roughly $7 million, including about $1.5 million for an enclosure. Officials had visited pools in Jefferson and Chamblee and asked an architect to design a sprung structure over both pools.
- May 7: At a council meeting, according to the Fayette County News, swimmers ask where they can swim during the closure. The options presented carry 10- to 12-month construction schedules.
- May 21: Council votes unanimously to move a concept into design. The Fayette County News reported that the design fee rose from $247,500 to $417,500 and the estimated project cost is $7.8 million.
- September 14: The city announces that the air structure won't be installed this winter and that lessons are paused starting in October.
- October 7: An open house at the fieldhouse draws a standing-room crowd to see the updated plans.
As of today, nothing we found in public reporting names a construction contractor, a start date, a closure date or a reopening date. In April the mayor said the work would mean missing a season. No one has published which season that will be.
The design residents can still weigh in on
The plan shown on October 7 has changed since spring. Project architect Brandon Fairbanks of WM2A in Macon presented a facility with eight 25-meter lanes, a separate four-lane recreational pool, a wheelchair entry ramp, an extra lane beside the main pool where kids can play while a parent swims laps, a warm-up area for meets, and a proposed larger splash pad and sundeck.
Recreation director Harold Layton explained to The Trail why the city chose to rebuild instead of patching the old pool again. "We start from scratch and build a new pool at a set price, and then we're good for the next 40-50 years," he said. Conley, the water aerobics instructor, told the paper the current pool "does not have as much deep water as we would like, so this would be great."
Attendees' first questions were about seating, restrooms, ventilation, and whether there would be enough spectator room for meets. The mayor says those details are still open:
"There is opportunity to provide input until we decide that this is the way we're going to go. There's still opportunity to keep up on The Slice e-newsletter and look at the Peachtree City website to see where this is headed. We are still looking for input as to bleachers, layout and things like that."
Learnard said that to The Trail. City Manager Justin Strickland told the paper that Peachtree City taxpayers will largely pay for construction and maintenance. Day-to-day operations draw partly on the fees the city charges swimmers from outside Peachtree City.
Where the water goes in the meantime
So far, nobody has announced a replacement pool for the groups that depend on Kedron. Jackie DePietre, president of the McIntosh Swim Team Booster Club, told The Trail that practice "will involve us traveling out of county if we can find water; water is really hard to find in winter." The Citizen's September profile reported that Conley was working to find an interim pool so the water aerobics group could keep meeting.
For individual lap swimmers, one confirmed indoor option nearby is the Summit Family YMCA at 1765 East Hwy 34 in Newnan. It lists an indoor pool and a therapy pool. Posted hours run from 5 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. The YMCA of Metro Atlanta says its one-day pass works at any metro Atlanta Y and includes indoor pools. That page doesn't show a price.
If you hold a Kedron pass, the price difference matters when you compare. On the city's 2026 fee sheet, daily admission is $5 for residents and $10 for non-residents. An individual annual pass for ages 3 to 64 is $250 for residents and $500 for non-residents. No other pool we found offers Peachtree City residents that kind of hometown rate. That gap is a big part of why the coming year matters to so many households.
Kedron is part of the everyday routine here, like the golf cart paths and the newer restaurants built around them. For now, the most useful places to follow the project are The Slice and the city's Kedron Fieldhouse & Aquatic Center page. That's where the bleacher and layout decisions, and eventually a closure date, will show up first.
At Vicki Morris, we're grateful to call West Georgia and the Southside home, and we'll keep following how projects like Kedron shape daily life in Peachtree City. If you're thinking about how amenities like this fit your family's plans, schedule your personal consultation and we'll talk it through together.
