Summer Swimming In Hoboken: Pool Updates, Lessons, Weehawken, And More

HOBOKEN, NJ — The city of Hoboken still doesn't have its own pool, despite decades of promises to the public. Nearing another summer without a public pool, residents have asked again about options for swimming and youth lessons.

"If a kid never learns to play basketball, they aren't going to die," said a local mom last month. "If a kid doesn't learn to swim, however, the consequences can be lethal. Every year kids die in oceans, rivers and lakes because they never learned to swim."

Other towns have started providing recreation swim lessons in summers at affordable rates. Two New Jersey educators wrote in an opinion piece in 2022 — after a teen in Maplewood died in a school pool — that urban areas must find an affordable place and a way to teach their teens to swim. The student who drowned, they noted, was two weeks away from starting his senior year of high school.

Will this be the summer that Hoboken makes it happen?

City spokesperson Marilyn Baer said any announcements about local pools will come soon.

"The Recreation Division intends to once again work with Stevens Institute of Technology and the Hoboken Public School District to provide residents with pool access," said Baer on Friday. "The city is finalizing details which will be announced in the coming weeks."

Aside from access to local pools in summer, what about plans for Hoboken's own pool?

The city is moving forward with a proposal to include a pool in the complex at the Multi-Service Center at 124 Grand St., Baer said. There is no timeline for final design yet.

"The city conducted an open public planning process for the Multi-Service Center redesign last year, creating three concepts based on public feedback," she said, "which include a new senior center, swimming pool, community meeting space, gymnasium, hockey rink, pickleball courts, and more. The city's consultants are using public feedback to create a final concept design which will be presented to the City Council when finalized."

One Hoboken mom said she hopes the city can find a way this summer to reach kids who still haven't learned to swim.

"Swimming is a crucial life skill, and lack of easy access to lessons poses a danger to our youth," she said. "In a city that has multiples of many other amenities, it is a reasonable expectation that we finally achieve a goal that has been promised but never delivered...The multi-service center is exciting, but what do we do in the years in the meantime?"

Weehawken Gives Opening Date

Among the available swimming resources, the Weehawken Pool Complex, built partly with state funds, must allow any New Jersey resident to be admitted, for a fee. The pool is a 1.5-mile walk along the river from Hoboken.

Last year, the swim complex allowed people outside Weehawken to buy season passes, for the first time. This year, people outside Weehawken can still buy a season pass. The pool will also offer a limited number of day passes this year, to comply with state law.

For Weehawken residents, the 2024 season passes are $125 for the first adult in the household, $75 for another, and kids 18 and under are free.

For outside residents, the first adult pays $250, second adult pays $150, and kids 18 and under in the same household are free.

The complex will open on Memorial Day Weekend from Saturday May 25 through Monday, May 27. The pool will be open only on weekends for the next few weeks while school is in session. Then, it will reopen for daily use on June 22.

Labor Day will be the last day of the season.

Get the full 2024 Weehawken pool complex details here.