City approves court replacement contract; USTA assessed local tennis facilities
City Commissioners approved a $156,000 contract during their May 5 meeting for sports court replacements at Charles Russell Park.
The contract with United Materials will be funded with park maintenance district funds.
The court replacement is among the planned projects for the eighth year of the park maintenance district.
The work includes the removal and replacement of about 1,440 square yards of existing asphalt tennis and basketball court surfacing, installation of a new acrylic surface coating, and related improvements at Charles Russell Park, a city-owned park at 1516 33rd St. S.
The new asphalt tennis court surface will be cured per the coating system supplier’s instructions and be cleaned to remove all dirt and debris.
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This new court will be a multi-use court to provide a variety of sports activities.
Court replacement has been a Great Falls Park and Recreation priority since the park district was established by public vote in 2018.
Each year, courts are selected for replacement based on their condition and overall need, according to Park and Rec staff.
The Charles Russell Park courts were designated as part of the year eight project schedule.
The project was designed by TD&H Engineering, which will also provide project management services with general contract management under an $18,000 agreement approved in March.
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The city received three bids for the project, ranging from $156,000 to $208,387, with United Materials submitting the low bid.
The project was mentioned during the April 13 Park and Recreation Advisory Board meeting as part of a broader discussion on the U.S. Tennis Association‘s assessment of city tennis facilities.
Jessica Compton, deputy Park and Rec director, said Russell is a large park, with many families and fewer parks in the area.
Court conditions are “horrible” and there have been multiple community requests related to the park, Compton said.
Staff told the board that the estimated cost of the court replacement was $140,000 to $160,000.
During the April 13 Park and Rec board meeting. Kevin Vining, parks manager, reviewed the USTA facility assessment with the board.
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He said the USTA group worked with him and Compton, interviewed local tennis groups and surveyed the public.
The USTA works with communities and facilities nationwide to assess facilities and Vining said Great Falls was “pretty lucky” to have them visit.
The purpose of the assessment, he said, was to understand the current performance of facilities, identify strengths, gaps and risks, evaluate financial sustainability and provide data-driven recommendations.
The assessment was specific to public courts, both indoor and outdoor. It reviewed dual use sites, those for tennis and pickleball, but the focus was on tennis.
Tennis participation has grown since 2019 and nationally ranks above all other racket sports with 27.3 million players nationwide, according to USTA.
The review looked at infrastructure, court condition, fencing, accessibility, parking and lighting.
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Compton said that city ordinance restricts lighting parks after dark, so that can’t be addressed currently.
The review also looked at programming, current and projected community impact, court utilization, other nearby sports, number of courts and the social vulnerability index, which includes economic and demographic factors.
Community impact looks at the number of current and potential future participants, distance to sites, health data, demographics and public interest.
The facilities were scored on a scale of 1-3, weighted according to priorities and trends.
City facilities scored as follows:
- Aim High Big Sky: 2.3, pickleball only
- Jaycee Park: 1.75, pickleball only
- Elks Riverside/Hurd: 2.11, strong fencing and access, limited lighting
- C.M. Russell High School: 2.07, fair condition, resurfacing needed
- Lions Park: 1.78, fair, surface type limits long-term durability
- Montana Park: 1.51, poor, reconstruction needed
- North Kiwanis Park: 1.46, poor to fair, accessibility and lighting gaps
- Russell Park: 1.43, poor, surface deterioration
- West Kiwanis Park: 1.34, poor, reconstruction needed
- Sunrise Park: 1.22, very poor, lowest condition in the city system
The review found Hurd, Jaycee and Aim High Big Sky courts to be in good condition.
Resurfacing is needed at CMR, North Kiwanis and Lions Park, and reconstruction is needed for West Kiwanis, Montana Russell and Sunrise.
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Vining said it was their “hopes and dreams” to reconstruct those parks.
Based on preliminary estimates, Vining said the four-court tennis facility at Montana Park, in the Fox Farm area, is in poor enough condition that they’d likely have to remove a chunk of fencing and might be able to mill and overlay, with engineering help, plus new posts, nets, fencing and gates. The project is estimated at $250,000.
City amenities scored, on average, 1.25 out of 3, he said, and the restrooms had been upgraded at the Hurd courts.
Accessibility is good at Hurd, Jaycee, Russell and CMR courts, but lacking at multiple courts, according to the assessment.
Staff said sports wheelchairs are wider and they’d like to accommodate that.
Vining said as courts are upgraded, they don’t want to leave out details such as wind screens, which have to be fit into the budget.
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He said staff is taking some risks in improving tennis facilities in the hopes of bringing people to the parks.
“We’re gonna have a need to find some community partners that can help,” with teaching lessons and growing the sport, he said. “But that’s what Park and Rec is about, for people to enjoy these activities.”
Vining said the USTA assessment tells staff that there’s strong community value and community use.
There are opportunities for improved efficiencies, he said, but also long-term budget challenges.
The USTA assessment may open some grant opportunities, he said, but as they lay out Park and Rec’s needs, there are only about 12 years left in the park maintenance district, and when that goes away, they aren’t sure what funds they’ll have available.
Resurfacing or reconstructing tennis courts is “not a really cheap endeavor,” Vining said.
The assessment identified key themes of growing demand, rising costs, deferred maintenance needs, limited pricing flexibility, and alignment with community needs.
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Vining said that high school tennis and pickleball groups are some of the largest users, but they’re hoping to attract more small schools that come in for tournaments.
The city has an agreement with Great Falls Public Schools and the Great Falls Tennis Association for annual tennis court maintenance funding.
Under the agreement, the city and GFPS contribute $4,000 and the association contributes $2,000.
It costs about $15,000 per court for resurfacing, Vining said.
The pickleball club raised about a third of the funds for the Jaycee court project, according to the club.
Vining said those kinds of agreements will likely be reviewed once the city’s consultant completes its Park and Rec fee study.
He said Park and Rec wants to build on the momentum of high school tennis tournaments, and introduce Red Ball tennis, partner with homeschool associations and incorporate adaptive and wheelchair programs.
Both GFPS high schools now have JV tennis programs, a sign of local growth in the sport, Vining said.
Red Ball tennis is growing nationwide and is a version that can be played on smaller courts and facilities using a bigger ball, it helps kids learn more about techniques, Vining said.
USTA offers grants for tennis facility improvements, but the maximum award won’t exceed 50 percent of the total project cost.
Grants range from $10,000 to up to $35,000 per court, depending on the project type.
This year’s plan includes resurfacing the Russell Park courts.
Next year’s plan includes resurfacing Hurd, Jaycee and Lions courts in 2027 with park maintenance district funds, dependent on available funding.
The following year, Park and Rec may work on the Montana Park courts, which are in pretty bad shape and not usable for normal play, Vining said.
Park and Rec has started internal discussions, but have a new director in place. Vining said he wouldn’t mind seeing the courts by the fire station as pickleball and the westside remain tennis courts.
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Compton, deputy park director, said staff develops a list of projects that need to be done annually to address deferred maintenance.
But, sometimes things don’t go as planned, and this year, they had some issues with security lighting and three slides at neighborhood parks were destroyed.
“We only have so much money that we can focus on court maintenance,” Compton said.
Rex Derr, a local tennis player, said more money had been spent on the CMR courts than Hurd/Elks Riverside.
He said the CMR courts were resurfaced five years ago and Hurd hadn’t been resurfaced in 15 years.
Compton said staff was looking at them now to make a better long-term plan and, through the USTA assessment, make a priority list.
Vining said it often depends on cost and availability of funding.
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He said Hurd court had a concrete base, which was stronger, and the post tension “has been beautiful,” so the court was in better shape compared to the CMR courts, which have a road asphalt base.
The department has been working to switch its methods from reactive to proactive and have gone from putting no money into tennis courts to putting in some money and effort annually.
Ben Rangel of the Great Falls Tennis Association said that players have been aware of the condition of the courts for many years and it was great to see the USTA verify what they’ve known.
He said he was hoping the relationship between the association, the city and GFPS could be strengthened to address the dire financial needs.
Rangel said they host high school tournaments, but also B/C schools.
The association is looking to create a new type of tournament that’s no elimination, so players are guaranteed four matches.
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Rangel said they’re planning to host the first one in August and hoping it will increase local interest in tennis.
Janna Reynolds of Electric City Pickleball said the club had continued funding to the CMR courts and play a lot there now.
They hosted 52 events last year, with 15-100 people per event. She said the average player is about 50, but they have a lot of seniors, and about 237 members.
“Pickleball is huge in Great Falls right now,” she said.
Pat Carroll, Park and Rec board member, again raised his discontent with the city commission approving $425,000 of park district funds for Voyagers stadium repairs.
“How many tennis courts could we have rebuilt with the money that the Voyagers stole,” he said.
He asked the board to discuss it, but other members suggested they put it on their next agenda to comply with their guidelines and public notice rules.
*Photo by Laurel Hunt, former intern for The Electric
