By Rita Robinson | LB Indy
A cordial handshake over a solution was finally reached this past Tuesday, Jan. 13, on the contested repair of the highly used high school tennis courts, according to reports from both sides.
Years of dispute over how to repair cracked and buckled tennis courts at the high school culminated recently when city officials decided to quit volleying back and forth and instead negotiate face-to-face with school district officials.
“There was information we didn’t have,” said school board president Ketta Brown on Wednesday. “It’s not that the city was withholding it, we just didn’t know.”
The dispute concerns escalating costs of repairing the courts. The district asked the city to contribute 70 percent of the cost of the $1.8 million upgrade, a percentage that was agreed upon in an earlier negotiated joint-use agreement. The city refused to contribute more than the $435,000 it agreed to in 2013 when the repair estimate was $620,000. The city initially agreed to foot 70 percent of the costs because the courts are well-used by the non-student community, according to reports. Costs escalated due to unanticipHYPERLINK “https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/love-match-court-upgrade/”aHYPERLINK “https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/love-match-court-upgrade/”ted expenses. Proposed post-tension construction forced the project into a “new construction” category that required including access for disabled people and undergoing state review.
Ben Siegel, the city’s director of community services, said it looks like both sides are happy now and the matter will most likely reach a consensus at a joint meeting between the school board and the City Council at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the Council Chambers. Details will be released at that meeting. The council is scheduled to vote on the court repair solution at its meeting, which follows at 6 p.m. The district is expected to make its final decision at its regular meeting a week later.
Siegel presented the new information to school district officials during the closed session meeting this week, Brown said.
Earlier in the month, Siegel told the City Council that the type of soil under the courts did not require post-tension slabs, designed to minimize cracking if soils shift or during extreme temperature changes. One court at the high school is already fitted with post-tension construction.
“We had a productive meeting and discussed a couple of options,” said Mayor Bob Whalen, who declined to discuss the details of the meeting until a final decision is made by both the council and the district. A staff report was to be available by Thursday, Jan. 15.
Whalen, council member Rob Zur Schmiede and Siegel met with school board members Brown and Jan Vickers, two school administrators and Superintendent Sherine Smith.
Both sides had already agreed to upgrades in 2008 and routine maintenance on the courts stopped. Most of the city courts are routinely maintained and regularly resurfaced and leveled at much lower costs, Siegel said earlier. “The whole point is not to spend $1.8 million,” said Brown, who expects the new plan to cost less after new bids are received. “We feel good about it and they feel the same way,” said Brown, who also did not discuss specifics.
[…] Resolving a year of disagreements, the courts will be repaired rather than equipped with post-tensioned slabs that prevent cracking, and the city and the district will split costs 70-30 as previously negotiated. Repairs at the community pool, which is adjacent to the courts and also used by high-school students, were also agreed upon. […]