Council, university agree on tennis court proposal

STEUBENVILLE — City Council appears ready to sign off on a joint use agreement with Franciscan University of Steubenville that will see six new tennis courts built at Belleview Park, it was learned during Tuesday’s Recreation Committee meeting.

The university had sought a partnership with the city to have six new courts built to specific collegiate standards so the school could have a college tennis team qualify for NCAA tournaments.

The city had originally planned to build four new tennis courts at the west end of the park on a fill material area that will also be developed for other recreational facilities as part of the nearly $3 million overhaul of the city’s park system.

Second Ward Councilman and Recreation Committee Chairman Rick Perkins termed the proposal, “a win-win for everyone involved.”

“Any time we can get a group to pay half the cost of a project, it is something we need to accept. And it is an outstanding proposal for the university,” Perkins said.

“I agree. It is definitely a win for both sides in this,” Fourth Ward Councilman David Fortunato said.

Perkins said he and City Manager Bruce Williams had been meeting with university representatives for the past two months.

“We agreed to the construction of the six new courts with the cost split 50-50. The university will share the annual expenses, not to exceed $5,000 a year. And when a resurfacing is needed at the courts, the university will pay half of that expense,” Perkins explained.

The agreement also calls for “necessary fencing, lights for night play and bleachers for fans and observers.

The estimated cost of six new courts is estimated between $50,000 to $60,000 each.”

Third Ward Councilman Greg Metcalf said once the courts are built and available, “we can look into developing an instructional tennis program to offer local youth and adults the chance to learn how to play tennis.”

City officials indicated Tuesday they anticipate the new courts will be available by Aug. 1, 2009.

Perkins said there has been “some preliminary discussion about using the ball field at Jim Wood Park for the university’s softball team. That is something we are going to look at and discuss with the college.”

The council members and administration also heard detailed plans for a proposed new recreation maintenance building to be constructed at the current tennis court site.

According to a revised estimate submitted by Grae-Con Construction, a 5,000-square-foot steel building will cost $327,887 and will include an office, shower facility for employees and a break room with the remainder of the building serving as a garage and storage facility.

Council also received a set of updated design plans for Belleview and Jim Wood parks from architect Tim Leist of MKC Associates.

Perkins scheduled a recreation committee meeting for Tuesday at 6 p.m. to continue reviewing the design plans.

Once the council agrees what projects they would like to see refurbished or added to the two city parks, Grae-Con officials will obtain cost estimates for the work.

At that point council members will have to determine which projects will meet the approximately $3 million budget set for the recreation remodeling work.

The city obtained $2.7 million last year from the sale of the Belleview Golf Course and University Boulevard Green Strip to the university.



(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@heraldstaronline.com.)