Wichita to remove tennis, basketball courts in three city parks. Is yours one of them?
The Wichita City Council decided Tuesday to demolish the tennis and basketball courts at three public parks.
The courts, at Sycamore, West Meadows and Country Acres parks, have gone essentially unmaintained by the city for many years and are in serious disrepair.
“We do have some deficient tennis courts in the system that need to be removed,” principal planner Larry Hoetmer told the City Council, which approved the demolition projects unanimously. “We also have a basketball court in Country Acres that needs to be removed as well.”
The courts will be replaced with “green space,” he said.
The lack of maintenance of the courts is evident. Asphalt surfaces are severely cracked, with weeds growing up through the pavement.
Some of the courts are so badly cracked that they’re unusable. Others seem to be seldom used for their intended purpose, if at all.
The courts weren’t maintained through the years because they “have not been programmed or used robustly,” city spokeswoman Megan Lovely said in an e-mail response to Eagle questions. “Because of the prioritization of maintenance and limited funds, our Parks department focuses maintenance on high traffic parks.”
Only one council member, Bryan Frye, had questions at the council meeting.
He said plans are in the works to convert Country Acres Park to a dog park and he wanted to make sure there would be enough money left to do that in addition to demolishing the two tennis courts and one basketball court at the park.
At Frye’s request, city staff agreed to put Country Acres last on the demolition list.
“Currently the use of the park is sparse and a new use such as a dog park could revitalize the park and address a need in the western side of the city,” Lovely said.
Although nothing’s been approved or decided on what a dog park there would look like or what amenities it would have in it, “The terrain makes good sense for a dog park; it’s small, hilly and lends itself well to this amenity,” Lovely said.
The council did not consider repairing any of the courts on the demolition list, nor converting them to other uses such as pickleball, a paddle game played on a small tennis-style court.
Pickleball is currently booming in Wichita and public courts are scarce, despite ongoing efforts to build new facilities for it.
“It’s possible this will be readdressed down the road,” Lovely said. “We do have an overall plan to address pickle ball needs throughout the city. We have worked closely with the pickle ball stakeholders to identify the best potential sites across the city.”
Money for the demolition of the courts will come from the capital improvement budget, using funds borrowed through general obligation bonds.
The $225,000 expenditure will pay for the demolitions — estimated to be $15,000 to $20,000 per site — and for renovation of hard courts at Piatt and Spruce parks, estimated $60,000 per site.
If there are any funds left over after the projects are bid, the remaining money will be used toward renovating sports courts at other sites, a city report said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
