Hall County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday night to approve a feasibility study to build tennis courts at North Hall Park on Nopone Road - or in another part of the north end of the county, should another location prove more viable.
The courts were supposed to be built along with the North Hall Community Center, but that part of the project was put on hold during the economic downturn. Commissioners have been asked by community members to move ahead with the plans now that the financial future is brighter.
Commissioners heard from supporters at a work session Monday afternoon about the need to build tennis courts north of Gainesville, since the city of Gainesville and the south end of the county already have a number of courts available for tennis enthusiasts.
Not everyone at Thursday night's meeting favored the idea of additional tennis courts for the county, however.
Craig Lutz, who once was commissioner for the South Hall area, told his former colleagues, they needed to hold off on the study.
"We have too many courts in Hall County today that are in disrepair - when I say disrepair, I mean they're unplayable," said Lutz. "We've got Flowery Branch, you've got courts at Alberta Banks, you have courts at East Hall, you need lights at Laurel Park."
Lutz said some of those courts sit idle because they aren't "serviceable."
In addition, Lutz told commissioners that additional courts will mean additional maintenance costs. And he said he wanted to see the money designated for new tennis courts used elsewhere.
"We need additional parking at some of the community centers, we need playground equipment...we need parks that have been closed in the past to be reopened. There's a lot of other areas where we could be spending our precious tax dollars," said Lutz.
Commissioner Scott Gibbs, whose district encompasses North Hall Park, assured Lutz that SPLOST VII includes enough money for maintenance of existing parks - including the resurfacing of tennis courts.
Commissioner Jeff Stowe cautioned fellow board members not to focus solely on North Hall Park as the site for new tennis courts.
"I know we have Laurel Park where potentially we could add courts, so I think part of that needs to be a feasibility study of where is the least expensive place to build these courts," said Stowe.
Following the vote to proceed with the feasibility study, Ken Rearden, Director of Public Works & Utilities for Hall County, said it would take about six to eight months to present a plan to commissioners.
"I expect to have a work authorization before the Board of Commissioners the first voting meeting in May," said Rearden. "We have four on-call consulting firms...and I will get prices and scopes from all four of those firms and our staff, -with parks staff - will review those scopes and bring the one that we think is best suited to the Board of Commissioners for approval."
