Now the tennis-pickleball debate has ended, and the construction work will begin.
By early fall, the Tall Oaks Tennis Center will technically be the Sun City Tennis-Pickleball Center.
In late May, two contracted firms will come to the center and spend 3-4 months converting tennis courts 1 and 2 to eight pickleball courts. The lights on current courts 1 and 2 will remain to illuminate evening play on the eight new pickleball courts. Lights will be added to two other tennis courts.
This two-part project will cost $81,000, based on the best bids received from area firms. According to a contract between the Sun City association and the community’s Pickleball Club, the association will pay $50,500 of the cost, and the Pickleball Club will pay the remaining $30,500. This cost-sharing arrangement is similar to one used about a decade ago between the Tennis Club and the association to build courts 5-6-7 at the center.
The Pickleball-association contract was approved by the board by a 4-3 vote on February 28, not unanimously as reported by the Sun Day on March 8. Dennis O’Leary, board president, and board members Bob McGouey and Marilynn Berendt, all voted no on the contract. According to O’Leary, the board was divided on the question of whether %20,000 originally budgeted for tennis court maintenance in 2018 should be used to pay for part of the court conversion and new lights.
“That issue has been discussed and decided, and everyone is moving on now,” O’Leary said.
Tennis activities will continue as scheduled this summer while construction takes place, said Esther Skeggs, Tennis Club president. Current and former Tennis Club officers have raised questions about possible congestion in the center, the impact of the project on vehicle parking, and some details of the re-configured courts 1 and 2 area. These matters will be addressed as work on the conversion proceeds this summer.
