If Albany State tennis site falls through, Tift Park is eager to welcome project

ALBANY – “The ball’s in their court.”

That’s the way city of Albany Recreation Director Steven Belk described the status of the effort to site a tennis and pickleball facility at the Albany State University West Campus. The city has sent a proposal to the University System of Georgia and is awaiting a response.

The city and Dougherty County have been seeking a location for a facility for several years now, with sites proposed and/or considered on city-owned land behind the Albany Civic Center, Tift Park and on county-owned property at the former Georgia National Guard site nearby.

Currently, the group looking to make the project a reality has its sights set on Albany State.

The city has dedicated about $1.2 million toward the project, and the county has more than $1.3 million available in special-purpose local-option sales tax (SPLOST) dollars earmarked toward a tennis project.

Since the city provides recreation services to the county under an intergovernmental agreement, it made sense to let the city take the lead on the racquetball development, County Commissioner Clinton Johnson said.

The city has presented a memorandum of understanding to the University System of Georgia, Belk said. The agency could ultimately say yes and make recommendations or refuse the request.

The recent announced departure of Albany State President Marion Fedrick also could mean a delay, officials said.

“I think the city and the county have said what we’re going to do and what we want to do,” Belk said. “We all met with everybody and drafted the memorandum of understanding we want to implement. We need feedback on what we can do and how we can do it. What I really believe (is) we’re not counting our time, we’re making our time count. Unfortunately, this started 20-something years ago.”

The county’s money was earmarked in SPLOST III, and currently the county is collecting through the eighth SPLOST initiative. Since each sales tax is approved for six years, that money has been sitting in a bank account for some time.

Prior to her departure, Belk said, Fedrick expressed appreciation for his efforts to forge a closer relationship between the university and the city.

“She said ‘I really appreciate you as director of Parks and Recreation bringing the community to the campus,” he said. “She thanked me for bringing the community to the campus, meaning there’s an association with the community college.

“The community is connected with the college to combine the resources they have with the resources we have.”

Pickleball has grown exponentially in popularity and for the third year is the fastest-growing sport in the United States. The Recreation Department has responded by offering regular opportunities for players to participate at several of its facilities, Belk said.

County Commissioner Victor Edwards, who chairs the county’s Recreation Committee, said he has requested a meeting of that group next week to focus efforts on the issue.

“We were just wanting to get past the budget, then we were going to set up that recreation meeting,” he said.

If the Albany State location falls through for some reason, there is support for siting the facility at Tift Park in an area where dilapidated tennis courts now sit with vegetation intruding and no nets.

The city’s most recent master plan for the park calls for 12 pickleball courts, Friends of Tift Park President Steven Brimberry said, and the organization and community would like to see the facility go there.

The area has a lot going for it in terms of numbers of potential players who live and work in the area near Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Brimberry said.

Phoebe and Albany Technical College have a residential medical training facility set to open in August. The city and county also are considering a project to bring more housing to the area, with an eye toward providing housing for Phoebe employees and others.

Building the facility at Tift Park also would be a chance for the city to revitalize a park that has been neglected, Belk said. Over the years, requests just to replace the netting and place backstops at the existing tennis courts at the site have been ignored, and promises of a horseshoe area also have not come to fruition, he said.

“I know when we started Friends of Tift Park nobody could play (tennis) because there’s not a net,” Brimberry said. “How long are we going to let this just be an eyesore? As Friends of Tift Park, we would like them to put courts back where we had them. Why is it hard to put courts where the folks who will be playing on them want them?

“If you have college students and more housing, it would be a healthy addition to the neighborhood. Hey, we want them at Tift Park.”

A racquetball development in the area would be a great fit in the growing area, Phoebe Putney Health System President and CEO Scott Steiner said.

In addition to the new Phoebe/Albany Tech Living & Learning Community, the health system is building a new trauma center, emergency room and NICU facilities.

The housing projects under consideration would bring more people and spur the need for new businesses as well, Steiner said.

“To me, it’s like a puzzle,” he said. “It’s not one thing. When you start bringing people down there, they need things to do. Next thing, maybe a coffee shop, maybe a grocery store. That puzzle starts coming together.”

Phoebe has been a supporter of Tift Park over the years, Stiner said, and is committed to that effort.

“I think it makes a whole lot of sense,” he said. “I’ve been supportive of that location since they’ve been talking about it. That could be another piece, a great piece. It fits in with health and recreation. We think it will be another draw for medical students and residents.”

While he does not want to buck the consensus of the group looking at the issue, County Commissioner Anthony Jones, who also serves on the Recreation Committee, said he also sees logic in Tift Park.

“My thoughts about it are I would build them where development is going on,” he said. “The only place we have development going on is over there on Jefferson Street. For me, from my perspective, I’d like to see some more thought going into putting it over there, because that’s where development is going on. That’s just my personal opinion.”

The commissioner said he also would like to see the city and county catch the pickleball wave while it’s ascending. Cities in Alabama and Georgia are hosting tournaments, and those events offer the chance of the economic benefit of bringing in people from other areas to play.

“It’s a sport that everyone’s wanting to play, but we haven’t got a court in place so they can play,” Jones said. “Everybody, everybody, everybody is excited about tournaments. There’s a lot of opportunities.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]