Jordan Plowman
Lantern Staff
This fall, the USD 490 tennis teams will be able to smack their rackets on the new tennis and pickleball courts at 1000 N. Main St.
The El Dorado City Commission and USD 490 began negotiations last spring and started construction for the new courts in June.
“It was a fast-moving project,” Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of El Dorado Kevin Wishart said. “Our engineering department with the city does a great job in making sure of that.”
USD 490 saw the adjunction partnership as a beneficial decision to expand their court availability for their overflowing amount of athletes and to host tournaments on and off-season at the new tennis courts, according to Wishart.
The city commission saw many other benefits for building new courts.
“The city currently has four courts at the Waterworks facility that are in disrepair, and the cost to repair them would not be in our best interest in terms of how we spend our dollars,” Wishart said. “The location is such that if we were to expand our water plant, we would have to expand into the tennis courts, so we made it know that we were considering building four new courts.”
According to Wishart, the city decided to add in pickleball to the design because of the larger number of pickleball players that are at the current activity center and their expression of wanting an outside court.
Including the glee over the pickleball players and USD 490 express for the new court, the city of El Dorado is in good spirits about the moving of the courts.
“We have had many positive comments from the members of the community excited about the opportunity to have safe and well-lit courts to play tennis and expand pickleball,” Wishart said.
The tennis courts and pickleball courts are now open for citizens and families alike to enjoy.