Pickleballers rejoice: BOPARC approves bid for new Krepps Park courts
Apr. 12—MORGANTOWN — After years of patching and resurfacing the Krepps Park tennis and basketball courts, BOPARC is moving forward with a total replacement of the park's playing surfaces.
Pickleball enthusiasts, take note.
Currently, the park has one basketball court and two courts used for both tennis and pickleball.
Earlier this week, BOPARC's Board of Directors approved a $182, 722 bid from Parrotta Paving to replace the basketball court in its existing location, replace one dedicated tennis court and construct two dedicated pickleball courts.
"The configuration will shift but the overall footprint change will not be significant, " BOPARC Director Melissa Wiles said.
Members of the board noted the longstanding need to address the courts.
"This has been a long time coming, " Susan Klingensmith said.
Wiles agreed, explaining that as the courts have gotten older, BOPARC has had increasing difficulty getting firms to bid on the small, patchwork projects it could afford.
The implementation of the city's municipal sales tax has changed that. BOPARC gets a quarter of the sales tax revenue taken in by the city, which is anticipated to be in the $9.6 million range in the current fiscal year—meaning $2.4 million to BOPARC.
"We've been doing periodic resurfacing and patching of all of our courts for decades. Unfortunately, most of them are way beyond that point and full replacements are needed. When you bid for a band-aid, but a full operation is necessary, you aren't going to get much response, " Wiles said. "That's why our sales tax funding is so important. It has allowed us to start making true, impactful upgrades to the system and not just patching things here and there."
While the intent is to start work as soon as possible, the project timeline is dependent on weather, the availability of materials and Parrotta's work schedule.
The contractor is currently fulfilling a $69, 981 contract with BOPARC to install a crushed gravel walking track at Paul Preserve, the three-acre pocket park at the corner of Darst Street and Mineral Avenue in the city's Jerome Park Neighborhood.
That work should be completed next week.
In other Krepps Park news, Wiles said improvements to the dog park remain on schedule.
The wet weather of late provided an opportunity to further adjust some of the two-acre pooch park's drainage improvements, a central component of the work.
The dog park has been closed since February and is expected to open by the end of August.
Blue & Gold Contracting is doing the work at a cost of $93, 224.27.
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