Fort Mill serves up a plan to fix tennis courts, and keep them open to the public
Tennis courts at one of Fort Mill’s oldest recreation sites now sit in disrepair, but they won’t much longer.
There’s a plan to resurface some courts, and replace others, at the Fort Mill YMCA at the Complex. All those courts would remain open for public use.
Mayor Guynn Savage said the state of the courts there now warrant attention.
“We don’t have anything in that level of disrepair that the town puts its name on,” she said.
For decades recreation programs in Fort Mill ran through the Leroy Springs Recreation Complex, now the Fort Mill YMCA at the Complex. Before the Anne Springs Close Greenway and Walter Elisha Park, even before the town started its own recreation department, the Leroy Springs facility ran youth recreation programs and offered ballfields. Recreation space included six courts and half a court (a painted cinderblock wall to hit against for practice).
In 2017, an historic agreement involving the town, Fort Mill School District, Upper Palmetto YMCA and the Leroy Springs company was announced. Less than a year later the town took ownership of the complex. The school district put an aquatic center there, and the Y operates sites for the town and school district.
The tennis courts are on the property, but don’t require membership to use.
It’s been a few years since cracks that developed on the tennis courts were patched, and companies won’t come back to patch again due to liability issues, said Town Manager Davy Broom.
“There are six courts at the location, and all six courts are affected by the cracks,” he said. “Some larger than others, but they all are affected.”
Broom brought proposals either to resurface the existing courts or resurface some and replace others. Fort Mill town council opted to pay roughly $384,000 to resurface four courts, demolish two courts and build four new ones. The work won’t change who gets to play there.
“Courts are open to the public and get used by the public,” Broom said.
Resurfacing existing courts might have been possible this fall. Building new courts will all but certainly mean a spring project. Broom told council there are still details to work through, like whether the courts to be demolished might remain open or be closed earlier for safety reasons.
Work to repair the courts would take 60-90 days, Broom said. Savage said weather plays a key role in when that work can happen.
Even with the cracks, the courts are used.
Last year there were 294 lessons and 121 camp sessions, Broom said. With a late 2020 start after athletic facilities were closed due to COVID-19, the courts still had 187 lessons and 115 camps in July and August.
Councilwoman Lisa Cook cast the only vote against the tennis court work. She said she wanted more information on plans for the more-than-40-year-old recreation site that now belongs to the town.
“We don’t have a master plan, is the biggest heartburn for this,” Cook said.
The town had a sketch done of what improvements at the complex could look like, but hasn’t voted to approve any concept or request more detailed drawings. And, the baseball/softball fields won’t be there indefinitely. That land remained with the previous owner for likely redevelopment.
Savage said she understands the need for youth sports, which has grown the past few years as more people move to the area. She can’t play soccer; She can play tennis.
“Tennis is one of the few that can be enjoyed from a very early age, three or four years old...all the way through people even older than me,” Savage said.
Apart from town parks like the walking trail at Elisha Park, church softball in the summer and perhaps swimming, Savage said there aren’t town-run options for adults.
“A lot of our larger neighborhoods have added very nice tennis facilities,” Savage said. “Very nice. Not all of us live in those neighborhoods. Not all of us have access to those courts.”
