Acknowledging the existing West Park tennis courts are dilapidated, city officials have signed off on a renovation with the hopes of getting players to use the courts again.
Last month, Lake Forest’s City Council unanimously approved a $492,000 contract with a local paving company for a reconstruction of the four West Park tennis courts. West Park is located on Green Bay Road, roughly between Westminster and Woodlands Roads.
“For at least five years, those courts have been essentially unplayable. So there hasn’t been much use of any of those courts,” Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack said at the Nov. 18 City Council meeting.
“There is some pretty severe cracking that goes into the base layer of asphalt,” Chuck Myers, superintendent of parks and forestry. noted.
Myers was not certain when the courts were originally installed, but sensed it was at least 25 years ago.
City officials have been reviewing the state of the West Park courts for some time. Both the city’s parks and recreation board and the public works committee recommended the makeover to the City Council.
“It does provide a long-term solution with limited cracking so that is a plus with tennis courts,” Myers said.
The new courts will have a new drainage system, net posts and fence along with a new fiberglass practice wall, according to city documents.
“I don’t think it will have any visual or aesthetic downside to it,” Myers said.
Finally, Myers said the courts would be moved slightly to adhere to United States Tennis Association standards.
He believed the new courts should last about 15 to 20 years.
In the future, the City wants to resurface the top coating of the courts every five years.
“It is going to extend the life and it is going to give you a better play surface,” Myers said.
There was some consideration for adding additional courts but Myers said the decision was to stay with four courts, as it was not practical to add any more due to the presence of some existing memorials at the parks and utilities.
Construction is scheduled to start in March, with the hope to have it completed by May, according to Myers.
City Manager Jason Wicha said there has been some interest from the school districts in using those courts for tennis as the courts at Deerpath Community Park have been converted for pickleball use.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.