City Will Spend $40,000 to Repair Bleser Tennis Courts

Money left over from the new aquatic center in will go toward park improvements, including $40,000 to fix the tennis courts this spring.

Councilman Martin O’Donnell, who heads the city’s Public Service Committee said the condition of the courts, which haven’t been resurfaced in 20 years, needed to be addressed.

“These courts are in bad shape,” O’Donnell said. Three of the four courts are usable and cracks run throughout.

Voters approved a tax levy in 2008 that brought in $4.1 million to redo the Ellen Trivonovich pool. The project came in under budget at $3.85 million. Avon Lake Mayor K.C. Zuber said the leftover extra $250,000 must be used in Bleser Park.

“We have some projects in the park that have needed to get done that we’ve wanted to get done for some time,” Zuber said earlier this year.

In February, City Council started compiling a list of projects including repairing tennis courts, removing the ice hut and improving the driveway, Little League announcer’s box and the baseball dugouts.

“The Parks and Recreation Commission was worried about the announcer’s stand,” O’Donnell said. “And we’re talking about issue of safety with the ice hut.”

 The ice hut came down April 27.

The city would like to see improvements to the Little League fields also, including new dugouts.

Joe Reitz said the dugouts will be same as the ones at Weiss Field.