Fort Thomas City Council approved a bid for improvements to the city’s tennis courts in Tower Park during Tuesday’s meeting.
Queen City Blacktop won the bid, but work is not planned to begin until July 7 to accommodate the school district’s use of the courts, including hosting a tennis tournament on July 5.
There were four bids, and the Queen City bid came in under the amount he had estimated for the project, said City Administrator Matt Kremer. Initially, he estimated the project would cost about $445,000, and the bid was just under $412,000. He said he’d be asking for the money in the next fiscal budget but wanted the council to vote now to allow for planning and scheduling.
The bid included the following improvements:
- a quarter-mile paved path through the woods that surrounds the complex
- milling and asphalt on the upper and lower courts
- replacing the original fencing around both courts
- striping the courts
- the lower courts will be striped multipurpose to include pickleball
- replacing the pathways to the tennis courts; the path to the lower courts is to be half concrete steps and half ramp with railings. (This last item added by council committee as an alternate bid and included in the bid).
“We’ll discuss this during budget time, but I’m going to ask for closer to $425,000 because it’ll allow us to replace the pickleball nets that are down there,” Kremer said. “They are the more temporary ones, and the ones we’ve used in Highland Park were more expensive — but they are really good. So, I think, if we are going to spend that much money, let’s get some good ones down there. We’ll still keep the temporaries, and we can use them in the Armory.”
Kremer said the project would take two to three months. Weather must be factored in, and there is about a month of curing time before courts can be painted.
Council passed the request unanimously.
Another project under consideration
Kremer noted he’d also received two bids for another project on Friday, but he did not want to ask the council to vote on it yet before he’d had time to vet and review it. The bids are for the Midway streetscape project. The project involves the burial of power lines, widening the sidewalks, adding bump-outs, greenery, a crosswalk, bike lanes and general beautification of the district.
The bids came in just above $4 million, but after speaking with both contractors who bid, Kremer said he learned he had included too much trenching in the project bid and so overestimated. With the adjustment for that, Kremer said the new estimate for the project is $3.8 million, and after speaking with the two companies, the new lowest bid came back in at $3.85 million.
Kremer said he will bring the project back to council as soon as he has had more time to review.