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Tennis, Anyone?
New Plans for Bishop
Park Facility Unveiled
A revised plan placing a controversial ten
nis center at Bishop Park was the only one on
disptay at a recent public meeting—although
three alternative plans were earlier drawn for
other locations. ACC commissioners haven't
picked a site for the tennis center yet, but
have focussed lately on Bishop Park, despite
protests from many park users. An initial plan
would have added 15 new tennis courts to the
11 already at Bishop, and paved much of the
undeveloped multi-use field along Sunset for
parking and relocated basketball courts. That
didn't sit well with park users, and the elected
commissioners quickly ordered a downsized
plan, unveiled at last week's meeting.
The plan leaves the undeveloped field
untouched, cuts new parking by more than
half, and reduces tree
removals. It also stays
within budget—adding
only 10 new courts—
while full build-out of the original plan would
have required additional money. The cov
ered tennis pavilion at Bishop Park remains
unchanged in the plan. But that pavilion is
not used by most adult tennis players (many
of whom have issues with its design and
lighting: the initial proposal for the current
tennis center project called its SPLOST-funded
construction "inappropriate and wasteful
spending"), and a county staffer said there
had been "internal discussions" about rebuild
ing the basketball courts under the pavilion.
Athens Fanners Market president Jay Payne
told Flagpole last month that such a pavilion
might be a suitable place for the market.
Over 70 citizens showed up to see the plan
last week or to discuss questions with county
staffers; many left written comments. Mayor
Heidi Davison and several commissioners were
also on hand. A "user group" of tennis players
will now review the plan before commission
ers vote (perhaps August 3) on where to build
the tennis center. The mayor and commission
will also take public comment at their July 23
meeting if the tennis center is on the agenda.
The S2.3 million SPLOST budget that voters
approved in 2004 is bare-bones, and Bishop
Park is a leading contender because the proj
ect could be built most cheaply there; com
missioners have shown no inclination to add
to the project's budget. It was initially pro
posed (by local tennis groups) to be built on
the VFW-owned land adjacent to Bishop Park,
and to include 31 courts, making it "the larg
est such facility in the state." But by the time
the project was vetjsri a citizens' commit
tee and presented to voters in 2004, the num
ber of courts had been cut to "approximately
18" and land acquisition money had been cut
to zero (it was "determined that the tennis
center would be located on existing ACC prop
erty" but not specified where).
Charged with finding a suitable site for the
center—one of the last SPLOST 2005-funded
projects to be built
as the sales-tax pen
nies trickled in—a site
selection committee of
citizens looked at over 100 (mostly county-
owned) sites. They came up with six top
sites, rated on a point system. Those were
soon reduced to three, because changes at
the nearby airport would delay building two
of the sites, and land adjacent to Winterville
Elementary School was considered too distant.
That left Bishop Park, the Whit Davis Road
side of Southeast Clarke Park and privately-
owned land beside the YWCO on Research
Road. The commissioners quickly shot down
the Whit Davis location (substituting the
Lexington road side of that large park, which
would require relocating existing ballfields)
based on neighborhood fears of increased
traffic and nighttime lights. They also added
Satterfield Park as a possibility; "conceptual"
plans were then drawn for all four locations
(including the YWCO site, for which there is no
existing money to buy the land).
Drawing tournaments to Athens would
be "a secondary goal/ Robin Stevens of ACC
Leisure Services said at last week's public
meeting; she said cities "hid" based on their
available facilities to host United States
Tennis Association tournaments, which have
in recent years rotated among Rome, Augusta,
Macon and Dalton. Those cities' facilities
typically have about 24 courts facilities at a
single location, she said. The original project
proposal from local tennis players cited esti
mated revenues of "between $160,000 and $6
million annually... as a result of hosting from
one to seven junior and adult USTA tourna
ments," but said tournaments are "not the
reason" to build it
Rather, the main goal is to expand facili
ties for local players and leagues, especially
for evening play, and to offer a centralized
location for instruction. "Remote tennis
courts scattered in parks' do not succeed in
attracting people to tennis, the proposal said,
which is a sport "without bias towards age" or
gender. More women play than men, it said,
and often into their 80s—while other sports
mostly attract people under 40.
Even without the new tennis center, eight
more tennis courts are already planned for
eventual construction at East Athens and
Southeast Clarke parks (although there may
not actually be room for all of the six slated
for Southeast Clarke), County Manager Alan
Reddish told commissioners in a recent memo.
John Huie
Note: See City Dope (p. 4) for a current update
on the tennis center situation.
Over 70 citizens showed up
to see the plan last week-
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