After years of waiting for pickleball courts and new tennis courts, players must wait a bit longer.
At its Jan. 14 meeting, the Macon County Board of Commissioners declined to act on putting Phase 1A of the Macon County Recreation Park’s Master Plan out for bid. Phase 1A is the installation of new tennis and pickleball courts at the current site of one of the park’s seldom-used baseball/softball fields. The field is the one visible from Georgia Road and is accessible from Allman Drive.
The disapproval came from how the new renderings looked different than the original master plan drawings. According to Mike Norris with McGill and Associates, the re-orientation of the courts was due to the planned pedestrian bridge over Cartoogechaye Creek, connecting to a parking lot next to the Robert Carpenter Community Building.
The presented design would have nine pickleball courts nearest to the existing parking lot, then six tennis courts on the other side, plus a restroom/changing room. The eight-foot-wide pedestrian bridge was not ready for bids, but would be soon, Norris said.
The concept design presented in September 2023 had the pavilion/changing room at the center of the courts, with tennis courts closer to a reconfigured parking lot and pickleball courts nearer to Georgia Road.
The pickleball/tennis courts are one of several potential phases that were conceptualized as part of a total revitalization of the Macon County Recreation Park, located off Georgia Road.
Commissioner Danny Antoine said multiple times he liked the original concept better and wished what was presented looked like that, feeling the public would be disappointed by this new rendering. Norris later said the master plan had “basic information,” but the new layout came about after examining the site and getting more information.
Macon County Recreation Director Seth Adams said fixing up the site’s parking lot was Phase 1B of the plan.
Commissioner Gary Shields asked how much that ball field is used. Adams said most of the county’s youth baseball and softball teams play at Parker Meadows and the Rec Park fields aren’t used that often.
The Recreation Committee saw the presentation the morning of the commissioners’ meeting. Based on their comments, Norris said he would include landscaping between the two types of courts.
Commissioner John Shearl, a liaison to the Recreation Committee, said the bridge was so school and activity buses don’t have to drive up Allman Drive and onto the access road, which has a tight turn at the bottom of the hill. Adams said teams have trouble finding the current tennis courts.
Commissioner Barry Breeden preferred Norris “going back to the drawing board” to rethink the court layout.
Antoine said he’s seeing what other towns and counties are doing recreationally during his travels and wants similar for Macon County.
“I think it’d be awesome if we can get to a place in our county where we build things, let’s give people nice stuff for the taxes they’re paying,” Antoine said. “We’ve spent enough years cutting corners and just going bare minimum with anything.”
In responding to Norris’s point about still putting bids out, Board Chair Josh Young said advertising multiple bids for the same project can lead to contractors losing interest.
Shearl asked if the original concept was feasible, to which Norris replied, “Not with the bridge.” Young added that with a small parking lot on the site, having the pedestrian bridge is a must.
“It’s been almost 50 years since we built that park, think a couple more months of just trying to hammer out the right plan, because it might be 50 more years before we do it again,” Breeden said.
Norris said if the commissioners wanted a Phase 1A redesign, it would be a major redesign. In response, Young said, “measure twice, cut once.”