Why Kernersville's New Outdoor Pool Sits on the Kerner Mill Greenway

At a Board of Aldermen meeting in late September, Town Manager Curtis Swisher explained why a construction crew would gather behind a row of homes off Southern Street at 3 a.m. The contractor planned to start pouring concrete about two hours later. That is the schedule for the shell of Kernersville's new community pool at Etta Lea & Lawrence Pope Memorial Park, as Scope News reported on October 6.

For most of town, those early-morning concrete trucks are the first concrete sign of a project that has spent nearly two years in budgets, procurement documents and site debates. Since 1999, public swimming in Kernersville has gone through a partnership facility on West Mountain Street: an indoor pool plus a shallow outdoor water park. The new pool is the town's first true outdoor community pool. It sits beside a paved creekside trail, and the town chose the spot partly so people could reach it on foot.

The Arrangement That Runs Out in 2029

Kernersville already has a pool on the town's park list. The Kernersville Community Pool and Water Park at 1113 W Mountain St. is a partnership between the Town and the Kernersville Family YMCA. The town's 2025 design-build request for qualifications explains the history. In 1999 the town and the local YMCA branch signed a 30-year partnership to expand public access to swimming. The pool built under that deal was designed indoors for year-round use and swim team practice. Outdoor needs were covered by a shallow outdoor water park.

The same document says the agreement is set to expire in 2029. It also says the last four needs assessments showed growing demand for "a true outdoor community pool." The town studied feasibility and cost in 2024, comparing municipal pools that matched Kernersville's needs. That study produced the original budget.

From there the project moved in steps. Each step came out of a public vote you can look up:

The budget rose from $10.8 million to $13 million between the 2025 site vote and the January 2026 financing. None of the public coverage explains the $2.2 million increase. According to Scope News, the financing carries a fixed 3.84% rate over 10 years, with total repayment of roughly $16.3 million across the full $13.7 million package. That package also pays for other town projects, including work at the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden.

What the 2025 Plans Called For

The town's request for qualifications listed what it wanted from the design-build team.

• Six 25-meter lanes
• A 14-foot slide
• A separate area sloping from zero entry to four feet deep
• Deck space with shade
• A room for class parties
• Offices, restrooms and a bathhouse
• Parking, landscaping and ADA access

These were the planned features in February 2025, before the town picked a site, raised the budget and approved financing. They show what the town asked for. They do not guarantee what will open. When the design-build approach was approved, town officials described the zero-entry design as suitable for a range of ages, heights and swimming abilities. The list contains no splash pad. A splash pad did show up in the 2019 Pope Park master plan as a separate park amenity, years before the pool was placed there.

The lap lanes and the shallow zero-entry area together address the gap the RFQ describes. The YMCA arrangement split swimming between an indoor pool and a shallow outdoor water park. The planned Pope Park pool puts lap swimming, a slide and a shallow wading area in one outdoor facility.

Why the Site Is on the Greenway

The pool committee looked at two sites. One was the corner of Harmon Lane and Pineview Drive. The other, which won, was Pope Park at 300 Southern Street, along the Kerner Mill Greenway. In August 2025, Swisher told aldermen the advantages: "it has access from the Greenway … and it will also be accessible off Oakhurst Street through McConnel," as Scope News reported.

At the September 2026 meeting, Alderman Bill Apple returned to that point. He cited accessibility and walkability near the greenway as major reasons for the location and noted that the previous board chose the site unanimously.

The trail is the Kerner Mill Greenway, which the town also calls the Scott Willis Memorial Trail. It is a 1.2-mile paved path along Kerner Mill Creek. The finished first phase runs from Oakhurst Street to Kilburn Way Lane. Kernersville Parks and Recreation lists the address as 219 Oakhurst Street, with the main parking lot at the Oakhurst trailhead and no restrooms along the route. The planned pool bathhouse would sit next to a trail that currently has none.

The 2019 master plan imagined a larger version of this, with a regional greenway passing just south of Pope Park and linking the park to downtown. Part of that idea is now in procurement. A town request for letters of interest, issued October 7, 2026, seeks a feasibility study for a possible Piedmont Greenway extension from East Forsyth High School to the existing greenway at Pope Park. In February, Scope News reported that Kernersville committed $15,000 toward the $150,000 study, contingent on a grant award.

How the Town Expects People to Arrive

The town also planned for drivers. Swisher defended using Lambeth Farm Lane as the pool's vehicle access, saying the road was originally meant to be a thoroughfare and is wider as a result. The town estimates about 260 vehicles a day during the roughly three and a half months a year the pool is expected to be open. It projects peaks of about 23 vehicles an hour in the morning and 26 in the afternoon.

So the plan is a seasonal facility with a short, busy calendar. People can get there by car on Lambeth Farm Lane or on foot and bike along the creek.

The Overnight Pour, From Both Sides

The October report covered a public hearing about concrete pours that could start as early as 2:30 a.m. and run about 12 hours. The hearing considered whether the start could move to 8 a.m., even if work then ran later into the evening, as well as privacy and whether planned landscaping would be enough to buffer noise once the pool opens.

Swisher said the contractor sets the timing based on the size of the pour, concrete delivery, curing, temperature, humidity, wind, sun and rain. "These size pours are always done early in the morning," he said, according to Scope News. He warned that forcing a schedule change would expose the town to significant financial risk if the pour failed. He also said the plan had already shrunk from three separate 12-hour pours to one overnight pour and one daytime pour. The town had asked the contractor about noise measures such as acoustic panels and was still waiting for an answer at the time.

What Nobody Has Announced Yet

Several basic facts are not yet public:

1. Opening date. No source gives a first season. The three-and-a-half-month figure describes how long the pool would be open each year once it operates, not when it opens.
2. Builder and architect. The town's procurement pages and news coverage do not name the selected design-build team.
3. Final features. The lanes, slide and zero-entry area come from the 2025 request and may change in the final design.
4. What happens to the YMCA partnership after 2029. The RFQ gives the expiration date and nothing about what follows.

This Fall at Pope Park and Around Town

The walk takes no planning. Park at the main lot at the Oakhurst Street trailhead and follow the paved path along Kerner Mill Creek, the greenway the town cited when it picked Pope Park for the pool.

The fall calendar is downtown. The Kernersville Downtown Trick or Treat runs Saturday, October 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. The 43rd Annual Cozy Cottage Craft Show fills the Kernersville Community House at 405 Salisbury St. on November 6 and 7. Hometown Christmas follows on Saturday, December 5, from 4 to 8 p.m., with trolley rides and a tree lighting.

The pool's opening date will most likely come out at a Board of Aldermen meeting. The meetings stream on the Town of Kernersville's YouTube channel, and that is where the site vote first played out.

If you own near Pope Park or the Kerner Mill Greenway and want to understand how a public project under construction may come up when you sell or buy nearby, Heidi Christie can walk you through what buyers tend to ask and how to present it accurately. Schedule a free consultation.