After debating how the first phase of the Macon County Recreation Park’s revitalization will look, the new idea is to just have pickleball courts at the site of a current ballfield.
At the March 11 Macon County Board of Commissioners meeting, Commissioner John Shearl said the recreation committee met that morning and McGill Associates, the architects of the plan, had a new design that he thinks the pickleball players will love.
Phase 1A focuses on the field nearest to Georgia Road, directly across the road from Jet Express Car Wash. Since Parker Meadows opened, the ballfields at the Rec Park are seldom used.
Shearl said for the tennis courts, “We’ve changed that game plan a little bit.” Macon County Parks and Recreation Director Seth Adams confirmed that the new Phase 1A will have pickleball courts while tennis courts will be reconstructed where they currently are, in the back of the property.
Adams declined to specify how many pickleball courts are in the plans, although it will likely end up with more than the nine previously proposed. A design for the new Phase 1A will be presented at a future commissioners’ meeting.
In January, the commissioners declined to act on putting Phase 1A out for bid, which would have had six tennis courts and nine pickleball courts, plus a pedestrian bridge to the community building and a changing room/restroom. The commissioners didn’t like how the design presented in January was different than what they had previously seen. McGill Associates said the changes were due to the Cartoogechaye Creek floodplain impacting where the pedestrian bridge could be located.
Public pickleball courts have been a want for years. There is also a need to replace the dilapidated tennis courts and give the Franklin High School teams who use them a changing room and improved restrooms.
The master plan for the park was presented and approved in September 2023. Phase 1B would be construction of a new parking lot next to where the pickleball courts are. Phase 2, as it was previously presented, would be taking another ball field and opening it up, adding an inclusive playground, amphitheater, splash pad, restroom and more. The master plan had four phases in total, completely revamping the entire park.