Surry County’s $69.8 million budget for 2024-25 includes $10 million for a new public swimming pool, amphitheater and banquet hall operated by the county’s Parks and Recreation Department.

According to County Administrator Melissa Rollins, all three facilities would be located at the Parks and Recreation Center at Enos Farm Drive. The county hasn’t announced a construction timeline.

According to the budget, which supervisors voted 3-2 on May 16 to adopt, the Parks and Recreation funding would come from new debt.

“We don’t have a consensus on borrowing,” said Dendron District Supervisor Amy Drewry, who cast one of the two dissenting votes on the budget. Surry District Supervisor Timothy Calhoun cast the other.

Drewry said she’d prefer to see the county partner with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation to jointly fund repairs to an existing pool at Chippokes State Park in Surry. That pool has been closed since 2022.

According to a DCR news release from that year, an engineering analysis identified “significant code issues and safety concerns” at the Chippokes pool. DCR staff at Chippokes told The Smithfield Times on May 22 that the state has yet to fund the needed repairs.

At present, the closest alternative pools are in Smithfield and Hopewell, each a roughly half-hour drive from the town of Surry.