Evans Pool is open on Sundays this fall for the first time. The cause is a broken pipe under a pool in another neighborhood. Seattle Parks and Recreation closed Queen Anne Pool in November 2025 after it started losing about 400,000 gallons of water a month. To make up for that, Parks added Sunday hours and more swim lessons at Evans, Ballard and Medgar Evers.
The timing matters. Queen Anne is expected to stay closed until fall 2027. Seattle Parks' July 2026 schedule for the Green Lake Community Center and Evans Pool rebuild has construction starting in late 2027. So the pool on East Green Lake Drive North is carrying extra weight for the north end right now. The last stretch of that is expected to overlap with the run-up to its own rebuild.
What a Sunday at Evans Looks Like Now
The fall 2026 schedule runs September 8 through December 20. Across the top it says "Now open on Sunday!" The Sunday blocks on the printed schedule look like this:
| Time | Program | Lanes |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. | Lap swim | 6 lap lanes |
| 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. | Swim lessons | Sauna closed to the public during lessons |
| 11:00 a.m. to noon | Rec swim with lap swim | 3 lap lanes |
| Noon to 1:30 p.m. | Lap swim | 3 lap lanes, lane swimming only |
| 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. | Rec swim with lap swim | 3 lap lanes |
The rest of the week follows a familiar pattern. Adult swim runs noon to 1:30 p.m. every weekday, with three lap lanes. Pool Playland runs right after it. Evening lap swim starts at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday evening has a half-pool rec swim from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., then adult and lap swim until 8:30. On Mondays it uses all six lanes until 8 p.m. Teen Swim for ages 12 to 18 runs Fridays from 7:15 to 8 p.m.
The Queen Anne closure notice says Evans and Medgar Evers would add early-morning lap swim on top of the Sunday hours. The printed Evans fall schedule doesn't show that. Its earliest lap swim on any day is 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, On weekdays the first block is a 10:10 a.m. water fitness class Tuesday through Thursday. On Monday and Friday, nothing starts before adult swim at noon. If you swim early, the printed schedule is the one to plan around.
How a Queen Anne Leak Changed the Green Lake Schedule
Parks tested the Queen Anne pool and found the leaks in underground inflow pipes beneath it. Those pipes are hard to reach and hard to repair. Parks finished every repair it could get to, but testing in March still showed no drop in water loss. Parks decided to keep the pool closed until a major repair can be done through the Citywide Pool Renovation Project.
Over the summer, Parks moved the extra demand to Mounger Pool, adding 1,200 swim lesson spots there. For fall, it shifted the effort to three other pools. Across Ballard, Evans and Medgar Evers, Parks says it is adding more than 650 swim lesson spots per week. It says total lesson capacity will be higher than what Queen Anne offered in 2025. Parks also says it will keep looking at demand and may add more programming after fall 2026, until Queen Anne reopens.
That makes the Sunday hours a response to a citywide shortage. Green Lake gets the benefit for as long as the shortage lasts, and Parks' current estimate for Queen Anne's return is fall 2027.
Late 2027 Shows Up on Both Schedules
At public meetings on July 15 and 18, 2026, Seattle Parks laid out this schedule for the Green Lake project:
- Planning and conceptual design, 2025 to 2026
- More public meetings and outreach, 2026
- Design and permitting, 2026 into 2027
- Construction begins, late 2027
- Construction, 2028 into 2029
That July schedule is later than earlier reporting. In April, KNKX reported that construction was slated to begin in 2027 and that the community center would close for about a year and a half. At a Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners meeting in December 2025, Parks staff said design would run until early 2027 and that they expected to finish the project in early 2029. Asked when Evans Pool would close to the public, staff said the final closure timeline had not been decided. Staff also said construction sequencing and cost estimates would not be ready until at least the second half of 2026, and would be worked out with the contractor.
As of October 2026, there is no published closure date for either Evans Pool or the community center. What exists is a stated construction start of late 2027, and on another Parks web page, a stated Queen Anne reopening of fall 2027.
What the Rebuild Keeps
The Green Lake campus is old. The field house was built in 1929 and Evans Pool in 1955. The city designated the pool building a landmark in 2021. Because of the landmark status, the exterior is protected from demolition. Councilmember Dan Strauss told KNKX that the site's unstable soil, which used to be lake bed, and the landmarking are the main drivers of cost. The project budget went from $61.6 million in 2023 to $88.5 million in 2026.
The current plan has three parts:
- Community center. A new building with a gym and full basketball court, a childcare room for up to 30 kids, a multipurpose room with kitchen access, and teen, fitness, pottery and play rooms.
- Pool. A renovated 25-yard, six-lane lap pool inside the existing Evans building, with locker rooms, a community and party room, and a warm-water pool if funding allows.
- Play area. New equipment for ages 2 to 5 and 5 to 12, plus seating and restrooms.
The July presentation also lists a new pool interior, deck, gutters and mechanical systems, larger locker rooms, and better sightlines. In December, staff said construction would affect parking but not the tennis or pickleball courts. The basketball courts will stay as they are, except for resurfacing.
Six lanes is the same size as the pool today, and that is the main point of public debate. Allie Bacharach, a Green Lake resident and SplashForward board member, has asked the city to make Evans much larger. She made that case during public comment in August 2026. A Change.org petition argues against rebuilding a pool of the same size. Bacharach told KNKX her ideal design would be a 10-lane pool measuring 25 yards by 25 meters, and that even eight lanes would make a big difference. In the same April story, Jessica Murphy of Seattle Parks said it was too early to say what is possible.
Other North Seattle Pools This Fall
Seattle Parks has not named which pools or community centers will take over Green Lake's programs once construction starts. Here is where the nearby Parks pools stand in fall 2026:
- Ballard Pool, 1471 NW 67th St. Open on a fall schedule through December 18, with early-morning lap swim on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The printed schedule lists Saturday from 12:30 to 8 p.m. as pool rental time, so it's worth confirming any added public Saturday swims before you go.
- Meadowbrook Pool, 10515 35th Ave NE. Open through December 19, with 5:30 a.m. lap swim on weekdays.
- Helene Madison Pool, 13401 Meridian Ave N. Open on a fall schedule from August 30 to December 19.
- Queen Anne Pool, 1920 1st Ave W. Closed until fall 2027.
- Mounger Pool, 2535 32nd Ave W. Seasonal from May to September, and its 2026 season is over.
The community center building is also on its fall schedule, which started September 8. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed Sunday, so Sundays now belong to the pool side only. Drop-in programs include adult basketball, pickleball, table tennis, volleyball and a tot room. Friday Teen Night combines swim and gym for ages 11 to 18.
Upcoming dates at Evans this season:
- October 12. Closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day.
- November 1. The Evans Aqua Run, for ages 6 and up. A swim test and pre-registration are required.
- November 11, 26 and 27, and December 10. Holiday and staff in-service closures.
- December 1. Scholarship registration opens for winter 2027.
- December 20. Last day of the fall schedule, including the new Sunday hours.
Joyce Juntunen keeps track of how changes like the Evans rebuild timeline affect daily life near the lake. If you live near Green Lake and are planning around what happens there in 2027 and beyond, Joyce Juntunen is glad to talk through what she is hearing. Let's Connect.
