Looking for a pool, New Haven area

I was in the exact same boat as you for quite a long time, always trying to find a local pool, and just decided to go with the LA Fitness.

Previously, I was swimming at John Martinez school as part of the New Haven city parks program, but it's basically a school pool.  It's pretty nice/well maintained, it's free, and has like, no oversight whatsoever.  The problem - because there is no oversight, it's basically a kiddie pool.  The person who seems to sort of be in charge is a teacher at the school and she seems to be quasi-teaching swim lessons to a bunch of kids.  I went for a couple of weeks and they never put up lane lines and the kids were just hanging out, tossing balls around which would get in my way and they'd try to fetch the balls before I swam into them.  Also, I was always the only person there swimming, and the whole thing just kind of weirded me out.  I fear the summer would be even worse so I joined LA Fitness just this past Sunday, which I like very much so far.

For a time, it was worth it because it was free, but with the limited hours (T/Th 5:30-7:30 only), the lack of lane lines, and since I want to do an Oly this summer I decided to pony up for the LA Fitness.  It's a really nice facility. 

Good luck.  For me, it eventually just became worth it to pay the money because I couldn't find anything else. 

In addition to the options Lisa mentioned above, there is a master's program at Yale. You don't need to be yale affiliated. I can put you in touch with the organizers if you want. I don't know the current rate, or how many people are there currently. I worked with them last year when training for an IM.

Or, if you have a Yale ID, you can use the yale pool on your own. 

-tom